Xenomorphic
by DelayedInspiration
Summary: Captured at birth to undergo intense experimentation because of his unique genetic-code, Subject 3's life has been exceedingly linear. But when he is chosen to be spliced with the DNA of a creature considered to be the 'perfect organism', his life takes a drastic...transformation. It also doesn't help he is the son of a god. Female Percy in chapter two. Flames will be ignored.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1: Transmutation_

 _ **Greetings to whoever chose to read this. The plot bunny I mentioned in my other story**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **has finally come to fruition.**_

 _ **I browsed through the Percy Jackson/AVP crossover section and noticed: there is nothing in there like this story. So, without further ado, the first chapter in my new story. Also, this story will feature elements from Maximum Ride.**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do writing it.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _A hospital…somewhere in Manhattan_

 _August 18, 1993_

 _12 A.M._

Sally Jackson lied asleep in her hospital bed.

She had just given birth to her son, Perseus Jackson. An unusual name, but, considering who his father is, perhaps one that makes sense. She met Percy's father on Montauk Beach. Tall, nice tan, black hair, well-muscled, and captivating sea-green eyes. They made small talk, agreed to meet each other more often, and after a few months…boom, a broken oath and a new Sea Prince. Of course, after that wild night, Poseidon revealed that he was much more than a handsome man with the name of a Greek god…he was the god himself.

Sally accepted that with so little hesitance, Poseidon thought she was still delirious from last night. Her argument was that 'no man has that much stamina.'

…Anyway, after the not-so-big reveal, they got serious. Poseidon told her about the Big Three Pact between him and his brothers, Zeus and Hades. He told her about the life a demigod faced, and how Percy's was going to be especially dangerous…and tragic. He told her about the Great Prophecy, how the child was supposed to die at the climax…and that Percy's birth signaled its heralding. He left out the fact that Thalia Grace had been born and subsequently turned into a tree at fourteen years old because Hades was angry at Zeus.

That wouldn't help the situation any better than the next part.

Because he was an Olympic God, he couldn't stay with Sally. His absence was already raising questions, mainly from his wife, Amphitrite. She was always very intuitive. He had a feeling that she knew what was really going on.

With the realization that she would have to raise a Big Three demigod, who may or may not be the Child of Prophecy, by herself, Sally broke into tears. Why was her life so difficult!?

Poseidon had consoled his sobbing lover. After she had cried all of her tears, Poseidon held her close to him, his warmth bringing comfort to her distraught form. After she had calmed down, Poseidon bade her fare well.

Over the next nine months, Poseidon visited Sally, checking up on her and his unborn son. They talked, caught up with each other, and made plans for every scenario they could come up with. Then, the fateful day arrived.

Poseidon had waited in the…waiting…room. Obviously. He wasn't allowed in to be there for the birthing. Not that he wanted to, really. Who wants to see their wife cut open to reveal the innards of the human body? He didn't, that's for sure.

The birthing had gone off without a hitch. They used a C-section, went in, brought him out, and sewed her back up.

The doctor showed the 'happy couple' their new baby boy. A near perfect replica of his father, the boy had tufts of raven hair, tan-ish skin, had his father's eyes. After giving him the name 'Perseus', in the hope that his life would end happily, they gave Sally a sedative, and Poseidon returned to Atlantis a happy man. It was the last time they would ever see each other.

The doctors took the newborn to a nursery to perform routine tests to determine health.

Now then, after all of that lovely backstory, it's time for the story to begin. You see, because Percy is the child of a mortal and a god, only half of his genetic code is written.

The mortal half.

The other half, the godly half, appeared as gold nitrogenous bases. It's this gold DNA that gives a demigod their power. It's also the reason that Percy's life is about to embark on a scientific roller coaster straight to Hell.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeb Batchelder was beside himself in silent joy. He had found another one! Another child with one-half of typical DNA and one-half gold. A perfect candidate for his employers' more…unsavory experiments.

He turned to the 'doctors' behind him, "Prepare this one for transport," pointing to the baby. Then the room's light reflected off his lenses, hiding his eyes from view, "And take care of the woman." The doctors' unnatural good looks and wolfish grins told Jeb what these beings really were.

Erasers.

A female Eraser outfitted in a standard nurse's uniform walked into Sally's room, syringe in hand. The new mother had woken up sometime prior and asked what happened to her son. "Everything is perfectly fine. He's a healthy baby boy with a strong set of lungs."

At the beautiful woman's smile, Sally felt overwhelmingly reassured, "Oh, thank Heaven. Wait, what are you doing?" Her voice became panicked when she saw the nurse inject a syringe into her IV.

"Everything is perfectly fine." The nurse's smile turned sinister as she injected the syringe's contents.

Sally's eyes began to dim as the poison did its job. Fear gripped her heart. What were they going to do to her son!? Then sadness ripped through her like a knife. She would never take care of her son. She would never see him grow up. She would never change his diapers, never get to potty train him, nor console him when he had an accident. She would never send him off to school, never prepare him for his first date, nor see him graduate. She would never help him choose a college, never help him pick a job, nor see his success. She would never meet his long-time girlfriend, never see him married…nor would she ever have grandchildren. She would never get to be a mother.

As her life left her body, Sally saw _him_. The last vestiges of hope surged through her body. Poseidon had returned to save her and their child! But…something was wrong. Since when did Poseidon have wings?

' _Poseidon…'_ Sally's last thoughts were of the god that treated her like a goddess.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Atlantis was in celebration. A new child of the sea had been born.

Poseidon sat in his underwater throne, a proud smile on his face as his numerous subjects came to congratulate him. Of course not everyone shared in the joy. Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite, and his son, Triton, were…less than thrilled.

They weren't mad, but they weren't happy, they were more…neutrally curious. Compared to most gods, Poseidon's loyalty to his wife and child were through the roof. He rarely sired any children, the last one was more than fifty years ago. So for a woman, a mortal woman, to catch his attention…it was worth looking into. It still hurt that he had a child with another woman, though.

' _Poseidon…'_ His eyes widened when the saddened voice of Sally reached his mind. He concentrated on her prayer, the world around him fading to black. Then her thoughts and emotions flooded his being.

He fell from his throne, landing on a knee with his trident tightly grasped in his hand. His breathing was labored, the shock of Sally's feelings still present in his system.

"Poseidon!"

"Father!"

Amphitrite and Triton leaped from their thrones to the side of the Earthshaker. They began to ask too many question for the god to process as he was still deciphering Sally's intense emotions. "Quiet!" he roared. They complied _immediately._

With the new-found silence, he reopened the connection…only to find none. He began to panic… _where was Sally!?_ He widened his search, his consciousness stretching far across the Earth. He gaped in horror when he couldn't find her soul. That could only mean one thing…

' _No, it can't be! It's impossible!'_ He shook his head of those thoughts-he just didn't search hard enough. Yeah, that was it-he didn't search hard enough-all he had to was expand his search and look harder and use more power and-and-and-

"Poseidon!"

His wife's desperate voice sliced through his mental tirade. "What is it?" Amphitrite looked at him with concern, "You're crying."

Poseidon touched his cheek…sure enough, tears were streaming down his face…underwater…whatever.

Triton chose to speak up, "Father, what has you so upset?" His father's broken voice made even him sad, "Sally, my lover," Amphitrite's face became stone, "She's dead." Then it cracked.

Son and Wife embraced their father and husband. His sadness was their sadness. Despite cheating on them, they could not fault him for his distress. This woman was more than enough to catch Poseidon's interest, she was enough for him to bed her. That spoke volumes of this woman's appearance, personality, and heart.

Triton did his best to comfort his father, "It will be alright, Father. She is without a doubt in Elysium." Amphitrite reinforced her child's statement, "Yes, husband, listen to your son." Not the best thing to say…at all.

' _Son…Percy!'_ Poseidon exploded from his family's embrace, knocking them to the ground. He stalked forward to the door, the denizens of Atlantis scrambling out of his way. Triton and Amphitrite stared with mouths agape at Poseidon's retreating form. The Wife of Poseidon looked at her son, "What did I say?"

Triton pondered for a moment, before his eyes widened in shock and answered his mother's question with one of his own, "If the mother is dead…what happened to the son?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Poseidon appeared in the hospital room where his lover gave birth to their son. He looked around and noticed that Sally wasn't there. He grit his teeth in anger and whirled around, blowing the door off its hinges.

The staff in the hallway jumped in shock when a door exploded. They began to scream when a man decked out in body armor armed with an M249 SAW walked out of it.

Poseidon marched over to one of the cowering doctors, and hoisted him into the air by his lab-coat, "The woman that gave birth in that room, where is she?" His voice sounded like grinding rocks. "T-t-t-there was n-no woman that gave b-b-birth in th-e-e-ere." The poor man stuttered. Poseidon was _not_ convinced, "Liar…" He promptly stabbed the man with his trident. He pulled his symbol of power out of the corpse, and stalked down the hallway, looking for another doctor to give him the answers he sought, the others having since ran away.

"Freeze!"

Poseidon turned around and stared at the SWAT squad behind him.

"Drop the weapon! On your knees with your hands in the air!"

"I don't have time for you," was the god's response. He raised his trident-"Fire!"-Bullets soared through the air at the 'terrorist.' They passed through him like he was made of air. Mortal weapons have no effect on Greek Deity. Or any deity really.

The SWAT officers gaped in shock when their bullets simple bounced off the terrorist's body armor. "Fools," he said. He raised his gun and opened fire. None of them survived.

Poseidon stared at the puddles of sea-water without emotion. He promptly spun on his heel to continue his search. That's when he felt the presence of a goddess behind him. So he turned around…again…and glared down at the twelve-year-old Goddess of the Hunt. "What do you want, Artemis?"

The silver-eyed goddess stared at her enraged uncle, "He's not here."

She was sent flying through the air, then through the wall…and another…aaaaaaaand one more. Artemis looked up at the Sea God standing above her, and froze. His eyes were glowing orbs of sea-green. A green aura-smoke like in appearance-surrounded him. Power was rolling off of him in a constant stream. It felt like she was drowning.

Twelve flashes of light appeared behind them. Twelve overwhelming auras flooded the corridor. Twelve beings stood behind the two.

Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Athena, Ares, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysus, Hades, and Hestia stood behind Poseidon and Artemis.

"Poseidon," Zeus' voice held a deadly calm, "What are you doing?"

The Stormbringer tore his gaze away from Artemis and looked at his younger brother, his power still flaring, and in a grim voice that held a massive undertone of warning said, "I'm looking for my son."

The reactions of the Olympians were as you would expect. Some gasped, some dropped their jaws, and others were more vocal in response. Hades cocked a brow and Artemis kept up her poker face.

Zeus looked like he was about to explode, but managed to respond in an even tone, if a little bit growly, "We'll continue this discussion on Olympus." In a flash of light and crack of thunder, the King of the Gods disappeared, the other gods following suit.

Poseidon growled (somewhere on the planet a tremor ripped through the land) how dare that brat just _assume_ that he would just cancel his search for his newborn, so they could have a debate on Olympus!? Absurd!

Thunder exploded across New York, the soundwave rocking the hospital structure, knocking out the power, and power stations all over the state. It only served to further anger Poseidon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a blinding sea-green flash, Poseidon appeared on his seat of power, absolutely livid. "You had best have a good reason for calling me here, _little brother._ "

Zeus, inwardly shocked, kept up his superior look and asked, "What did you mean by 'son'?"

Poseidon's anger left his body, weariness taking its place. Staring at the floor, the God of the Sea told his family the events of the past nine months. "And so, when I was unable to feel either Sally's or Percy's energies, I flashed to the hospital to look for them, without success."

"Yeah," Ares piped up, "And you killed a few people along the way. Nice job. It's been awhile since we gods have been on a good rampage. We should do it more often!" The God of War broke out into fit of laughter. It abruptly came to a halt when he was dowsed in sea-water. As he sat spluttering, Poseidon stared at him in distaste.

"Anyway," He turned his gaze to his niece, "How did you know he wasn't there?" Then he thought of something else, "How did you even know he was born?"

Artemis chuckled amusedly, "Did you forget, Uncle? I'm also the Goddess of Childbirth. I can feel when every demigod child is born," she said with a pointed look at the gods across from her. Some had the dignity to look sheepish.

"Hades," the god in question looked at Poseidon, "is Sally truly dead?"

The God of the Underworld's eyes softened ever so slightly. This wasn't going to be easy for him say, but it needed to be done, "Yes, Poseidon, she is dead."

 **(Naruto OST: Saika) (Roll with me guys, I'm trying to set the mood)**

Poseidon's trident hit the floor with a clang, the throne room going silent. The only sound was Poseidon's heart-breaking sobs. The Olympians could only stare in pity and sadness.

Hades looked at his brother. He could understand Poseidon's pain. After all, he felt the same way when…Maria…was killed. Gods, it still hurt to even think of her name. Then his thoughts turned to the being responsible for her death. He grit his teeth at the thought of Zeus.

Speaking of Zeus, the God of the Sky was having an internal debate whether or not to console his sobbing sibling. Thoughts of Beryl floated into his mind. Steeling himself, he stood from his throne and walked over to Poseidon, and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. Hades watched this and decided to do the same.

The Olympians watched in varying amounts of shock. The Big Three, not trying to rip each other apart, not threatening war…but standing together offering support to one of their own? That was unheard of since the Ancient Times.

After Poseidon's tear ducts had emptied, Zeus and Hades offered one more consoling touch before returning to their thrones.

 **(End Song) (Let me know what you guys thought in the review section)**

"Now that we've all calmed down," Everyone turned their gaze to Athena, "We need to discuss what we're going to do. Poseidon's lover, Sally Jackson has been murdered by unknown people by unknown means-

"She was poisoned," Hades clarified.

Poseidon had picked up his trident and was now trying to strangle it.

"Right," Athena continued, slowly, "Sally Jackson was poisoned by unknown people. In addition, her's and Poseidon's child, Perseus, has also been _taken_ by unknown people, however, the reason for that may be tied into his genetic code." At her family's confused looks she elaborated, "A demigod's genetic code is unique from a regular human's. Humans have four nitrogenous bases consisting of adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine will connect to adenine, and guanine will connect to cytosine, forming the double-helix strand of what people call: DNA." Ares, Dionysus, Aphrodite, and Apollo still looked lost. Athena sighed, "Look it up when you get the chance.

"Anyway. Demigods do not have the typical double helix strand. As they are born from the gametes of a human and the power of a god, their double helix appears as one-half normal…one-half gold."

The gods nodded their heads in understanding, so Athena continued, "If he was taken by mortals, there's no telling what could happen. If they took him because of his DNA, they will no doubt be checking for more DNA of the same type, putting all of our children at risk." At the gods' terrified looks, "I propose we enforce the Mist around our world, and use Artemis' authority over child-birth to send satyrs to watch over the birthing of newborn demigods."

Zeus and Artemis agreed with their daughter/sister. "All in favor: Say 'I'." A chorus of I's greeted his ears. "All opposed?" Resounding silence. Zeus raised his bolt into the air, lighting erupting from the tip. "We shall summon Hecate later to iron out the details of this arrangement."

"What about my son?"

Zeus answered immediately, "We shall scour the globe. All of us," Zeus gazed at the Olympians, his electric blue eyes daring any to challenge his command, "Nothing shall be overlooked, no location unexplored until every square inch has been discovered." He stood from his throne, authority oozing from his form. The Olympians rose in tandem with each other, following their King's example. "Now go forth, search for our missing family member! Do not return until you've found something to follow!"

The gods all flashed out of the throne room, hell-bent on finding their nephew/cousin. Poseidon remained in the throne room with his brothers, however.

"Zeus," spoke Poseidon, "Why?" His brother only smiled in return, "It's time we stopped fighting amongst ourselves, and start becoming a family."

"Hmph."

Zeus and Poseidon turned to look at their oldest brother, "You speak of acting like family, yet you would destroy any love we feel towards a mortal. I will look for your son, Poseidon, but only because you've never tried to kill my children." With that, Hades gave one last look of contempt at Zeus, then he vanished in a shadow.

Zeus looked slightly downtrodden, so Poseidon offered words of comfort, "Give it time, Zeus. He always could hold a grudge, Old Death Breath." Zeus cracked a smile at the nickname for their brother, "Thank you, Brother. Now come, let us look for your son."

Poseidon's eyes hardened into steel, "Yes, let's."

In a flash of sea-green and electric blue, the two gods vanished.

The Olympian Gods succeeded in strengthening the Mist and having satyrs present for demigod birth, but they were never able to find Percy. For twelve years they searched. Twelve years he was hidden from their sight. Twelve years he felt nothing but pain.

This is his story…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _6 years later_

 _Death Valley_

 _Eight miles due North of the Badwater Basin_

Darkness. It was all he ever saw, yet never recognized.

Pain. It was all he ever felt, yet he never processed.

Medicine. It was all he ever smelled, yet never used.

Screams. It was all he ever heard, yet never listened to.

Death. It was all he ever tasted, yet never fully took a bite out of.

This was the life of six-year-old Percy Jackson, a.k.a. 'Subject 3,' inside of 'The School,' as the scientists, a.k.a. 'white-coats,' called it.

S-3, his nickname, never knew anything else besides this place. It was his home ever since he could remember, this floor his bed. He was born here. He ate here. He went to the bathroom here. He learned here. He was…experimented on here. He hated it HERE!

He wanted to escape this place, to run free in the outdoors. He wanted to see the world, immerse himself in all its wonders. But most of all…he wanted to see… _the ocean!_

He could never explain it, but he wanted to swim in the ocean so bad it hurt! He wanted to swim in the water, to interact with the fish, to-

SLAM!

His eyes flicked over to his thrown-open door. Light flooded into the dark room, illuminating his prison. A room easily 20 feet wide, 20 feet long, and 8 feet tall; the only things in the room were a toilet directly opposite the door…and a lone occupant sitting in the corner opposite the toilet.

He looked at the Eraser that barged into his 'room.' Tall, light-skinned, shirtless, god-like physique, and blood-thirsty grin. Why couldn't these idiots open the door like normal people? Why did they have to throw their inferior strength around?

"Time for your tests, brat." Generic-Eraser walked over to him and stood, waiting. When S-3 failed to move, the Eraser's patience went from 100-0 real quick. Growling, the lupine-human hybrid stalked closer to forcefully extract the uncooperative insect. The last mistake he would ever make.

Reaching out to grab the boy, he was unprepared for S-3 to _move._

S-3 latched on to the outstretched hand and twisted. He gave a silent smirk at the satisfying _snap_ that accompanied the action. Then he ducked when the Eraser tried to back-hand him with his unbroken right. With his left hand hanging uselessly at his side, and his right arm fully extended to the side, the Eraser's mid-section was left wide-open.

Slamming both of his fists into the Eraser's stomach, the expendable soldier doubled over S-3's back, blood and wind flying from his mouth. S-3's smirk widened slightly as he _lifted_ the Eraser. Then he slammed the mutt head-first into the concrete floor. A crunching sound was all that was heard.

S-3 promptly dropped the corpse and walked out of his crate. The whit-coats would pick it up later. He squinted as he walked into the hallway, his sea-green eyes adjusting to the light. He only wore black compression shorts, exposing the numerous surgical scars on his body.

"I see the augmentations are proving useful." S-3 looked at the white-coat standing just outside the door.

The 'augmentations' the scientist was talking about were a series of surgeries and specialized steroid and amino acid injections. They made him taller, stronger, faster, smarter, and better than he child his age, even better than most adults. It was why he could take down Erasers with practiced ease. They were also extremely painful.

The forced growth his body endured was nothing short of excruciating. In exchange for his enhanced abilities, his body ripped itself apart and healed near instantly afterward. It was why he was so durable. When muscle ripped or bone broke, they would regenerate, stronger, in an effort to not be injured again. It was the body's way of adapting.

The augmentations also included DNA splicing. Apparently, only half of his genetic code was written…the white-coats made it their personal mission to fill in the other half. Luckily though, he only had a little bit of cuttlefish DNA in his body, helping with his growth rate.

S-3 only looked at the white-coat blankly before walking down the hallway, "Just make sure you clean up that mess. I don't want my room to smell like a corpse…again."

Jeb Batchelder only chuckled in response.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The two walked into a large gym. It had full-size running track lining the wall. Inside of the track was as an assortment of weight-lifting machines and a boxing ring. The gym was empty except for the group of white-coated scientists equipped with clip-boards and a few Erasers armed with m4's.

S-3 looked at the only white-coat he could interact with, "More physical testing? We did this yesterday." Jeb looked at the boy, "We want to see how you perform after having a short amount of rest." S-3 scoffed.

They approached the gathering together. "Subject 3," spoke Generic-Whitecoat #1, "We're going to start first with squat, then bench-press, then power-clean, and finally military-press. Afterward, we will move on to cardiac testing."

S-3 approached the customized weight rack, built specifically for his 4'6 stature. Aligning his ring fingers with the bar's smooth grooves, and placing the bar square on his shoulders, he stood up… _with 225 extra pounds._ Unheard of for anyone his age.

He began squatting up and down with ease, barely registering the weight on his back. After squatting ten times, he racked the weight, the Erasers acting like a NASCAR pit crew, adding two more 45's, and making the weight 315 pounds. He burned through the set of eight with no problem what-so-ever. He next did 405 for six reps. He ended his squat lift with 495 pounds for four reps. He didn't break a sweat.

So it went like this for the next exercises. He ended bench-press with 350 pounds. He ended power-clean with 245 pounds. He ended military-press with 185. At the end…he was bored.

The white-coats all scribbled stuff onto their clip-boards, the Erasers standing silently off to the side. They knew better than to say anything at this moment. After all, the white-coats had the authority to have them 'decommissioned.'

"Now then, on to the next tests," Jeb spoke.

The group of scientists and experiments walked over to the start of the track. "First, your 100 meter, then your 200 meter, then your 300 meter, and finally your 400 meter. After that…we'll test your mile time."

S-3 kneeled down at the starting line, the Erasers standing behind him, guns at the ready; all of the white-coats stood at the end of the hundred meter stretch.

"Go!"

S-3 exploded from his position, his muscles generating near-superhuman force. He blitzed passed by the white-coats, his tailwind making their lab coats flutter. Jeb looked at his timer, his glasses almost falling off. _'4.8 seconds!?'_ He looked at S-3, _'He's not even winded.'_

"Line up for the 200." S-3 finished with a time of 9.2 seconds. He ran the 300 in 22.5 seconds. His 400 hundred time was nothing less than astounding: 35 seconds flat. All the while, his breathing level never changed. His body handling the stress of so much movement unnaturally well.

"Alright, S-3. Seeing as how this is no challenge for you, we're going to up the ante, so-to-speak. We're skipping the mile run for today in exchange for…combat analysis." Said boy only looked at the white-coat.

"Head to the boxing ring and await further instructions."

S-3 entered the ring and cocked a brow when the four Erasers entered right behind him. "Your objective is to _kill_ these four." The Erasers looked back at the white-coat in shock, S-3 only stared forward, his sea-green orbs tuning into jade steel. "Only one group will come out of that ring alive. Who will it be?"

The Erasers growled at S-3, each of them moving to occupy a corner, surrounding the augmented boy. S-3's eyes moved back and forth, assessing the threat. Eraser 1 in front-left. Eraser 2 in front-right. Eraser 3 in back-left, Eraser 4 in back-right.

Eraser 3 gave a battle cry and charged. S-3 crouched low, letting the expendable experiment fly over him into Eraser 2. Eraser 1 took this opportunity to leap into the air, his fist cocked back to shatter S-3's skull. The boy rolled to the side, the Eraser crashing into the mat. The lupine-hybrid roared in pain when his ribs were shattered. He began to choke on his own blood when his lungs were pierced by rib fragments.

' _One down, three to go.'_ Subject 3 looked around. Erasers 2 and 3 had untangled themselves and were preparing for a double team. Eraser 4 was still hanging back. The former two roared and charged at the boy. _'They never learn.'_

S-3 stood and waited, then _leapt_ over the Erasers. He twisted his body and landed facing them. The Erasers spun around ready to fight…only to fall to their knees when their testicles were crushed by enhanced fists.

The child then gripped their heads, the Erasers in too much pain to offer any resistance, and _slammed_ their skulls together. The shock waves knocked their brains loose and death was instant. S-3 looked around the ring. Eraser 1 had drowned to death, blood dripping from his mouth. Erasers 2 and 3 lay in a deceased heap behind him, and where was Eraser 4? Oh, he was running for the door. Lovely.

S-3 Looked at the white-coats, a silent question in his eyes. The head white-coat repeated his earlier statement, "Only one group will come out of that ring alive." The Subject scoffed at the indirect order… _and gave chase._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maximum Ride and her still growing Flock were having a day. Not a good day-how could anyone have a good day in this place?-but not a bad one either-they had to participate in any 'experiments.'

Max looked around the room, her superior night-vision identifying several other experiments in dog-crates, just like her's. This was her world. A dog-crate inhabited by her, Fang, Iggy, and Nudge, in a room with other kids just like her.

Well, they weren't human-avian hybrids, but they were hybrids of other animals.

Max sighed, when were they going to come get them for today's experiments? They were long overdue for more torture.

Her attention, as well as everybody's in the room, was drawn to the door when it burst open. _'Aw, great. Speak of the devil.'_ She just had to question the role of the universe, didn't she?

Then everyone became confused when they saw the _terrified_ expression on the Eraser's face. Erasers were top dog here in the School, what reason did they have to be afraid? They were the ones to instill fear, to experience it! What the hell was going on here!?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Eraser closed the door behind him, the only light in the room coming from the square window on the door. He backed away slowly, sweat dripping down his fear-filled face. He was well aware of the freaks that were looking at him in confusion. Typically, he would be snarling and threatening them, asserting his dominance over the freaks, but right now? He was far more worried about the monster that was chasing him. He had more than a fifty meter head start, but when he looked behind him, the monster was gaining…and fast.

He started turning corners, weaving his way through the halls, doing everything he could to escape. When he thought he lost the monster, he barged into the first room he saw, hoping to hide. It looked like he was safe now. Now he just had to figure out a way out of here before-

 _CREEEEEEEEAK_

The door slowly opened…the monster had found him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 was eager to finish this game of cat and mouse. Catching the mutt had been child's play. He was such a loud brute, tearing through the hallways. S-3 let up on the gas to give Eraser 4 a false sense of security. As predicted the Eraser entered the nearby experiment holding cell.

Now to finish the job.

He opened the door slowly-who said he couldn't have a little fun-to instill more fear in the waste-of-his-time. It was successful. The Eraser was shaking like a leaf. Then he took note of the other kids in the room.

"Would you look at that? An audience."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max was staring with rapt attention. So was everyone else in the room. Even Nudge had turned off her motor-mouth to watch this spectacle. Whoever this boy was, he was strong. He had to be, for who could terrify an Eraser this much.

"Would you look at that? An audience," the boy spoke. He was _toying_ with the Eraser! Who was this kid!?

The Eraser gulped, then his eyes hardened, "I won't let you kill me like you did the others!" Others? This kid, who couldn't be any older than she was, _killed_ multiple Erasers?

"The others held back, they never transformed, but me? I'll rip you apart!" Then the Eraser took his true form, the visage that instilled nightmarish-fear into all of their hearts: His nails became claws. His body bulked up even more than it already was. Fur sprouted from arms, back, and chest, covering his form. Then came the final transformation. His jaw lengthened, fang-like teeth sprouting inside of his maw. His hair erupted outward forming a mane.

Standing before them all, was what could very well be considered…a werewolf.

Max was sure that whatever the boy did in the past, it was all over now. The Erasers were scary in their human forms, but as he was now, they were terror incarnate."

"Is that all?"

Everyone's eyes widened in shock at the boy's question. Did he not see this Eraser as a threat?

Said hybrid growled at the boy, rage clear in his eyes. With a roar, he charged. He ran, claws forward, mouth open, ready to kill the boy.

The boy stood there, looking on at the angry Eraser with a calm expression on his face. Fear gripped Max's heart. This kid was going to die all because of his overconfidence.

But who was he to her? He was just some kid that showed up at their door…after chasing down a terrified Eraser. Maybe this Kid could help her and her Flock escape! And then they can get Jeb! A-a-and then the Flock and Jeb could be an actual family! But that wouldn't happen if this boy was eaten.

So, with all her might she screamed, "Move!"

The boy's eyes flicked over to her for just a microsecond, then he reacted. The Eraser balked when the boy _ran at him._ The boy slid underneath the charging Eraser and grabbed his feet, making him fall flat on his snout. With the Eraser dazed, the stood up slowly, turned around, and raised his foot. Then he _violently_ brought it down on the Eraser's spine.

A sickening crack was the only sound in the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 looked on without emotion, without pity, as the Eraser reverted back to normal. The mutt whimpered when S-3 flipped him on to his back. The Eraser 4 held a defeated look on his face.

"What are you waiting for? Finish it," even his voice had no more fight in it. "Very well then." S-3 placed one hand on the Eraser's chin, and the other on the back of his head…then twisted. Eraser 4's life ended in a snap.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max gaped in shock and horror. The boy just took down-just killed-an Eraser! With no problem!

The boy stood up and stared forward, his back to everyone in the room. He took a step forward, "Wait!"

Max had no idea why she called out to him-oh wait. It was on the hope that he would help her and her Flock. But with what she just witnessed, she felt like she was out of her mind. Fang and Nudge seemed to agree with her subconscious based on the looks they were giving her.

Regardless, they boy stopped and turned around to look at her. "Can you…can you help us?" The boy cocked a brow, "And what would you want me to do? Break your locks and lead you out of here? Sorry, despite these beasts'," he nudged the dead Eraser, "inferiority, they are still proficient with fully automatic weapons. I'm not sure if you have an invulnerability to bullets, but I know I don't." Before turning back around, he added, "Besides, even if we all did escape, where we would we go? I don't know anything besides these walls, and I highly doubt any of you have any idea where exactly we are."

Max and the rest of the room's occupants gained downtrodden looks. The boy looked around the room and threw one last comment over his shoulder as he left, "Don't lose hope. If you ever find yourself giving up, find something to fight for. It's what keeps me going."

Throughout the rest of Maximum Ride's life, those words would define her being.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 was walking through the hallway back to the gym when he encountered the white-coats. "Were you successful?" S-3 only stared at the white-coat. The scientist smirked, "Of course you were. Come, we have an experiment for today."

"What kind of experiment?" S-3 asked.

The white-coat turned around and stared into Subject 3's sea-green eyes, then he smirked, "We're going to screw up your eyes, kid. If this works, you're going to be able see in infrared."

Subject 3 cocked his head to the side, "Infrared? Whatever."

The white-coat only chuckled in response to the kid's indifference. After a short walk to a fully-prepped laboratory filled with at-the-ready surgeons, Subject 3 would be lying if he said he wasn't on edge.

"Hop on the table and relax." He followed the orders of the female surgeon, apparently the one in charge. As he lay on the operating table, he looked at the one-way mirror adjacent his position. He wondered who was in there.

As they put the mask over his face to give him anesthesia, he had one last thought before he went under, _'I'm tasting death again. I wonder if I'll get a full meal this time.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeb Batchelder looked on beyond the glass as the surgeons went to work on Subject 3's eyes. Thoughts swirled through his head about the boy. He was able to take on every experiment without fail. He took the cuttlefish DNA splice with only a small fever. He took the physical augmentation surgeries with nothing more than a little soreness. He was able to handle extreme amounts of weight with no difficulty. He could move at speeds that shattered world records for humans. Beyond that, he always seemed…unnatural.

His fighting capabilities shattered expectations. With the augmentations, they expected him to barely fight on par with an Eraser. On the first combat test, he beat the Eraser like a red-headed step-child, at four years-old. And he only improved. Today's kills were proof of that.

"What are you thinking about, Jeb?" The man in question turned his head and looked at his boss. Marian Janssen was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and brown eyes. She was slim in her build with glasses on the bridge of her nose. She was also the most dangerous female on the face of the planet. And if what she claimed was true, she was spliced the DNA of a Galapagos Tortoise…and was over 100 hundred years old. Whatever.

"I'm thinking about how adaptive Subject 3's body is…and why exactly you're having him go through this eye experiment."

The Director chuckled, "This isn't an experiment just to give him special eyes…it's an experiment to see just how adaptive he is. Like you said, Jeb, His body's been unnaturally responsive to our tests. If his mind can handle switching between the typical enhanced vision most of our experiments have and that of infrared, we will begin testing to see if his body can handle _it_."

Jeb's eyes widened behind his glasses, "You mean you've been able to synthesize it?"

"Yes, Jeb, after all these years, the creature's acidic DNA has been synthesized so we can perform all the tests we want with it. Seeing as how Subject 3's genetic code is only half-written, he is the perfect candidate for the experiment."

Despite his best efforts, Jeb couldn't stop the grin that spread on his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Three days later_

 _Subject 3's cell_

S-3 looked around his room in wonder. Despite there being absolutely no light, he could see just fine. Granted, everything in his field of vision was colored blue. He raised his hand to his face, the appendage glowing yellow and red.

The infrared experiment had been successful.

His eyes hurt for a few hours after the experiment, bandages covering his face after they were done. When he took them off and opened his eyes for the first time, his brain seared with pain. It wasn't every day the human mind had to process infrared vision. But like eyes adjusted to the darkness, his brain adjusted to the new light waves.

When tested by the white-coats, he felt like he was flexing a muscle when switching between vision modes. A brief buzzing sound filled his ears every time he changed visions. When he was in infrared mode, he heard a low humming sound. He asked the white-coats if anything happened to his eyes when he changed visons; they said his pupils turned a flaming-red color.

He was broken out of his thoughts when his door was opened normally. That immediately put him on guard. Typically, an Eraser would throw it open and subsequently be killed, but now it was slid open like a door should be opened.

A glowing figure with varying amounts of red, orange, and yellow all over their body entered his cell. Based on the body structure and heat distribution, it was a female. He deactivated his infrared and confirmed his assumption. A woman, blonde, brown eyes, reasonable height, athletic build, and glasses. Decked out in typical white-coat attire.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, Subject 3, you can." The experiments eyes narrowed, "And what exactly can I help you with? I haven't seen your face before, and I've seen almost everyone here." The woman chuckled in response, "Indeed you haven't seen my face before. After all, I am the Director of this facility."

S-3's eyes widened marginally before a predatory glint appeared in his orbs, "You're pretty ballsy, lady, coming into here." The woman's guard went up, but superiority radiated from her eyes. She believed she had the upper-hand, but was smart enough to be cautious around him. Good for her. "What's to stop me from capturing you and forcing my way out of here using you as a shield? What's to stop me from crushing your skull like a grape?"

"Only the fact that you would be slaughtered at the end of both scenarios, and your body would be used for science. As for what you can help me with…we've recently come into possession of some new stuff and we want you to test it out." S-3 was smirked when she offered her counter statement, but frowned at that last bit. So he responded with his opinion of what was really going on, "You've been undergoing highly unsuccessful experiments, so you're going to give it a shot with the one person in your database with only half of their genetic code, and has survived every experiment you put him through."

The Director kept her smile, "Actually, you are the first to undergo this experiment." At his disbelieving look, she elaborated, "Like you said, you've survived everything done to you. The augmentations, the cuttlefish DNA, and the infrared vision have all been successful. So why waste resources when we can go straight to the one with the perfect track record?"

S-3 scoffed, "'Resources'? Glad you think so highly of me. But, whatever, not like I have a choice in this matter, do I?"

The Director's visage turned demonically gleeful, "Glad you could see it my way. Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The lab room was exceedingly empty compared to his 'eye exam.' One female white-coat will multiple syringes. One operating table with clamps. One heart-rate monitor. One massive overhead light. One observation window that was one-way. And one test subject. Perfect.

The Director had dropped him off at the door to the lab, then she left. She was more than likely in the observation room above. Following procedure, he hopped on the operating table, letting the white-coat strap him down, metal cuffs on his legs, wrists, and midsection. She put the heart monitors in the appropriate places, a steady beep…beep…beep resounding throughout the room lab.

"We're ready, ma'am." S-3 assumed the white-coat was speaking to the Director. Her voice came over a hidden speaker, confirming his suspicions, _"Begin procedure at once."_

"Try to relax," Subject 3 looked at the white-coat, "We've prepared a number of pain killers and sedatives, but we don't know what this serum will do to you." S-3 raised an eyebrow, "And here I thought all of you were heartless bastards hell-bent on mass murdering people in the name of science." His eyes softened ever so slightly, "Thanks for your concern. It's…a nice change of pace."

The white-coat smiled before her face returned to normal, "Beginning procedure." She grabbed the first syringe, "Applying precautionary pain killers." S-3 felt a weird sensation travel throughout his body. Then a thought occurred to him, "Why not use anesthesia, like always?" The woman looked at him, the sadness in her eyes telling the boy all he needed to know, "I see. The Director is one heartless bitch, ain't she?"

" _Continue with procedure, please."_

The white-coat sighed, "Yes ma'am." She grabbed a syringe filled with black liquid, positioned the needle at his neck, and inserted. S-3 grimaced at the sensation. "In know that hurt," the Subject heard, "But what comes next…more so." She pressed the plunger…the liquid entering his body.

Subject 3's eyes shot open, pupils dilating to the size of pin-heads. Pain ripped through his body like a knife, his body pushing against the restraints. He screamed in absolute agony as black veins spread across his form, their origin being the needles entry point. It felt like acid was running through his veins!

The heart monitor was off the charts, his heart beating erratically in response to the liquid in his body. He screaming got even louder, and he _broke_ the restraints. His arms came flying off the table, followed by his torso, the motion ripping of the monitors off his chest and brining the machine to the floor.

Erasers burst in through the door, tranquilizer guns in hand. The white-coat had backed off the moment the boy started screaming. Despite the inside of his body feeling like it was on fire, S-3 ripped the remaining restraints off his legs and jumped at the Erasers, his mind far from thinking clearly. _He wanted the pain to stop!_

The Erasers opened fire, multiple darts piercing his body, concentrated sedative entering his bloodstream. S-3 stumbled and fell at the feet of the mutts. He glared at them despite the mind-numbing agony. Fighting through the messages his nerve receptors were sending to his brain, Subject 3 struggled to stand back up…only for a combat boot to come crashing into his skull. His head crashed into the ground and all adrenaline left his system. Then the Director walked in to the lab.

"Pick him up and take him back to his room. Be extra careful, the fact he hasn't died yet gives credit to his resilience, but I don't want to take any chances." There was a chorus of 'yes ma'am' as the Erasers set about doing there given task.

"What's going to happen to him?" the Director turned to look at the white-coat who performed the operation, "He's going to be taken back to his room and monitored for any changes in his body. If he dies," she paused to think, "Well, if he dies, we're going to do an autopsy to discover what killed him and how we can prevent that outcome with another subject." The white-coat was still concerned, "And what happens if he lives?"

The Director walked out the lab, the light of the hallway reflecting off her glasses, hiding her eyes.

"That, Valencia Martinez, is none of your concern."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 sat in the middle of his room, curled into a ball. He had screamed his throat raw, the only sound coming out of his mouth was a pitiful hiss-like noise. Then his body began rippling.

SQUELCH

S-3 trembled as he turned his head, his face adopting an expression of horror. Sticking out of his back…was a midnight-black tendril reaching all the way to the ceiling. He gasped as more tendrils erupted from his back, each one reaching out to the space behind him, connecting to the walls or the ceiling. The tendrils then began to…pull. He sat there helpless as the tendrils pulled him off the floor. Confusion and fear filled his being. _'What the hell…is happening to me?'_

His attention was drawn to his left arm as it began to twitch. Of its own accord, it shot straight out, parallel to the floor. His eyes widened when it began to _bubble_. True his thought, bubble like protrusions were traveling down his arm, ending in his fingertips. Then…more tendrils erupted from his fingers, connecting to the adjacent wall. Even more tendrils exploded from the back of his arm, connecting to the tendrils coming out of his back. His head snapped to his right arm as it repeated the same process.

Now he was suspended in the air. Black tendrils connected to all parts of the room behind him. Tendrils coming out of his arms and fingers, locking out his arms. If someone walked in, they would think he crucified in a giant, black, spider-web.

Feeling an overwhelming sense of exhaustion, his body moved on its own. His legs curled up to his chest, his arms came across his shins, holding them in place, the tendrils stretching in response. Then, the fleshy mass of the tendrils began to cover him. The mass on his back spread over his chest, then over his head. The mass on his arms spread over his legs, covering his feet, then it began to reach down to the floor.

When it was all over, Perseus Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, God of the Sea, and the mortal, Sally Jackson, was encased in a chrysalis made of a resin-like material.

Within the chrysalis… _a union between two species was being created._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **There we go, the first chapter in a new story that I hope you all enjoy. I've wanted to do a story like this for a long time and I finally got around to doing it.**_

 _ **The next chapter with detail what's happening inside the chrysalis, and what happens after the transformation. And I gotta say…I think y'all are going to like it.**_

 _ **Now then, leave a review about what you thought, give me some feedback on the chapter, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!**_


	2. Built for the Kill

_Chapter 2: Built for the Kill_

 _ **Hey guys! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!**_

 _ **Thanks for all the support for the new story. Two reviews, six favs, and twelve follows. You guys are awesome.**_

 _ **Now then, speaking of reviews:**_

 _ **EllieGmanlovesHalo-**_ _No, he will not have wings._

 _ **TheMysteriousOtaku-**_ _Hm. Interesting idea._

 _ **This chapter will involve some references, some dreams, and some stuff.**_

 _ **Lettuce begin!**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _It was a world of darkness and wind. A distant planet recently terraformed and colonized. The total number of people on the planet was 158, all of them living in a base known as Hadley's Hope…_

 _The people called the planetoid Acheron…most knew it as LV-426._

 _One family was sent by their employers to investigate an unknown alien craft near the Ilium Range. The father returned to the base pregnant with one of my sisters. 'What…? My sister…?'_

 _They put the man into the medical ward and tried to remove the Royal Facehugger. They quickly learned why that was a bad idea. They left the man in the ward and told the family he was going to be alright. A lie._

 _The man later died when the Queen was born from his body. And it was all down-hill from there. The Queen matured and returned to the craft, gathered more of my sisters-again, what?-and created the Hive. Within hours, the Hadley's Hope Colony had become a crypt. The colonists fought back of course, but it was far too late…my sisters'-why do I keep calling them that?-coordination was far superior to that of the humans'. Their hive mind gave them a lethal advantage over the colonists' last desperate attempt at survival._

' _My body…is tingling…it feels strange…'_

 _With their claws, they ripped the humans apart. 'My hands…'_

 _With their tails, they speared them like fish. 'My spine…'_

 _With their jaws, they bit them into pieces. 'My mouth…'_

 _With their dorsal tubes, they were able to sense the humans' positions and act accordingly. 'My back…'_

 _Colonial Marines soon showed up to Hadley's Hope. Unlike the colonists, these men and women actually posed a threat. So different tactics had to be used. The Marine's leader was weak-willed and inexperienced…the Queen was able to manipulate him with ease._

 _Scott Gorman, under the influence of the Queen and his own nerves, ordered the Marines to hand in their ammo clips before entering the Hive. They were unprepared to face my sisters in combat._

 _Unfortunately, some of them escaped the Hive, but most were either captured or killed. The Queen studied the remaining humans…and the android…devising a way to destroy them and eliminate the threat they posed._

 _The humans were smart, blocking off the ventilation shafts with steel plates and setting up turrets in front of the doors. But cutting the power gave my sisters an advantage…darkness. They assaulted the humans, and while many were lost, victory was still attained. Two of them were dead and three were captured. But the woman's bravery was as shocking as it was infuriating. She entered the Hive…and destroyed the Queen's eggs. The Queen freed herself from her egg-sack and gave chase in search of vengeance. She stowed away on the human ship, and when they thought they were safe…she struck!_

 _But the woman once again proved herself to be beyond average for her species. She fought the Queen with a machine augmenting her strength and threw the Queen into space…but it wasn't over._

 _My sisters had survived the explosion of the colony reactor and a new Queen was born. But with a new Queen came new threats. Weyland-Yutani had come to LV-426 and captured the Queen for research and study. Any other species would have died under the experiments the scientists conducted, but not my sisters. We were born to survive-to endure!-no matter what. And we succeeded._

 _The Queen was free once more and my sisters claimed the planetoid as their own. Of course the humans fought back, but they were fighting an uphill battle. One which they claimed with a pyrrhic victory: the new Queen was killed by the humans, but the planet was infested beyond recovery._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

" _Has there been any progress?"_

 _Subject 3 looked around the massive room. Twelve giant beings sat in twelve giant thrones of varying appearance. A fire blazed in the center of the room, tended to by a young girl. The ceiling was colored blue with many constellations decorated across the surface. S-3 felt that something was very wrong here. For one: no ordinary person grew that tall. Two: no ordinary person had chairs like that. Finally: no ordinary person gave off an aura of that much power. It felt like he was suffocating and being squeezed at the same time. Also, whenever he looked at his body, he could see what was on the other side of it._

 _S-3 turned his gaze back to the man who spoke. Messy black hair, tan skin, well-built, and…sea-green…eyes. His own eye color. Now that he looked at the man, he looked like an older version of himself. 'I wonder…'_

 _At the lack of verbal response to his question, the man gained a defeated look. "Don't give up Poseidon," 'Poseidon? Like the God of the Sea?' "We will keep looking for him until we find him. I gave my word and I_ _will_ _keep it," S-3 looked at the man with the blue eyes. He felt like the strongest one here. He also smelled like ozone. Strange._

" _It's been_ _six years_ _, Zeus. Six years that we, the Olympian_ _Gods_ _, have been unable to find my son." 'The Olympian Gods? What kind of mucked-up dream am I having? And what was up with LV-426?'_

" _Do not give up, Poseidon," the grey-eyed woman spoke up, "He isn't dead. We will find him. He's too important not to find." The hall grew deathly silent. 'Why do I have a feeling these people are looking for me?' The woman looked up at a space behind S-3, "He isn't dead…right?" She sounded unsure of her previous statement._

" _Oh, he's not dead," Subject 3 whipped around at stared at the thirteenth giant. 'Where did he come from?!' The man had pale skin, oily, slicked-back hair, a giant robe covering his body, and he had piercing black eyes…that were staring right at him. "In fact, you could say he's closer to us than you think." 'Oh not good. How the hell can he see me?'_

 _S-3 looked around the Throne Room as the apparent gods gained confused looks. Then the man pointed at his(S-3's) position. The gods all turned their gazes on S-3. He felt like he was standing under a desert-sun. He wasn't too far off with that assessment._

 _Realization appeared in the beings' eyes, and gasps filled Subject 3's ears. His eyes snapped to Poseidon when the man stood from his throne, "Percy?" S-3 had no idea who 'Percy' was, but the guy with that name was apparently really important to these people…if their reaction was anything to go by. Poseidon began walking-read: speeding-to where S-3 was standing. 'Time to go!' The experiment spun on his heel and took off for the golden door behind him. "Percy!" the ground shook with what felt earthquakes. S-3 reached the door in less than 3 seconds and passed through it like it wasn't there. 'I guess looking like a ghost has some perks.'_

 _Subject 3 tore down the streets of this really beautiful place. Lots of golden buildings, stunning plant-life, and really photogenic teenagers. S-3 sparred a glance behind him when he heard an explosion. 'Perfect. Here come the rest of these nut-jobs.'_

 _That made quite the sight for the denizens of Olympus. An essence projection being chased by the twelve Olympians…and was out-running them. Not for long, however, as Artemis and Hermes dipped into their godly-reserves of power and blurred out of existence and appeared in front of the boy._

 _S-3 balked when two of the beings materialized in front him, but he regained his balance and sprint forward at over 50 miles per hour. A speed impossible for normal humans. But he wasn't normal…not by a long shot._

 _The man was stunned by his speed, but the girl's (she may have been fifteen feet tall, but she had the appearance of a twelve year-old) eyes narrowed. He reached their legs and was about to pass right through them when the girl's giant hands shot out. His reflexes kicked in and slid just under her grasp. He shot back up and began sprinting again, pushing his body further than he ever had when he saw what looked like a ledge._

 _He reached his destination and jumped off without a second though. He immediately regretted his decision. He thought it would've been a long drop into a lake or a river. NOT A FREE-OF-CHARGE SKYDIVING TRIP OVER A CITY!_

 _The wind whipped in his ears as he fell spread-eagled through the air. He looked around as he fell, desperately searching for somewhere to land without dying…and distinguishing features of the surrounding city-scape. Then he spotted something. 'Oh hey. The Twin Towers.'_ _ **(This is 1999. 9/11 hasn't happened yet. God bless any of you who were affected by this act of terrorism.)**_

 _It was a sharp angle from where he jumped to the Towers but he aimed for it anyway. He_ _probably_ _wouldn't die on impact, but it was going to hurt wherever he landed. Faster and faster he fell, body aimed for the Towers. He brought his arms in front of his face as he approached, only a few hundred feet and closing fast. He began to scream in preparation for the rough landing._

 _He reached the side of the tower-body tensed-he rocketed into the building-and everything went dark._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Director, Jeb, and a few white-coats looked at the room in awe. They had never seen anything as _beautiful_ as this. Black tendrils were spread across the room, connecting to the walls, ceiling, and floor. The tendrils were supporting a chrysalis-like structure in the middle of the room. That's where they assumed Subject 3 was…resting.

The Director turned to the men behind her, "I want cameras set up in here and Erasers outside the door with an hourly rotation. I want scientists to take a look at this thing to determine what it is and what exactly is going on inside. Something is happening to our crown jewel, gentlemen, I would hate to miss what happens when it's over."

The white-coats scrambled to follow their leader's orders, only Jeb remained behind. Taking into account her top scientist's calculating expression, the Director asked if something was wrong. "No, Director. Nothing's wrong…it's just…"

"Do you feel guilty, Batchelder?"

Jeb looked at the woman and sighed, "A bit. We killed his mother just after he was born and brought him here. Then we proceeded to rip away any childhood he could've possibly had. Augmentations, DNA experiments, combat trials; at his age, most kids worry about if they're going to piss their pants at school. Him? He's worried if the next experiment will kill him."

The Director put her hand on his shoulder, "It will be alright Jeb. His genetic code allows him survive things no ordinary person could. Besides, it's in the name of science." She took her hand off Jeb's shoulder and walked down the hallway.

The white-coat looked inside the room, the chrysalis reflecting in his lenses, "Yeah…in the name of science my ass."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Subject 3 looked around at the black void that surrounded him. He couldn't see anything, feel anything, smell anything, hear anything, or taste anything. Yet, when he brought his arm to his face, he could see it just fine. He switched to infrared, but the darkness remained. Confused on whether or not his vision had stopped working, but he still heard the buzz and could still hear the dull humming, he brought his arm back up to his face. It was glowing yellow. He deactivated his infrared and his arm looked tan and scarred again. 'This is trippy.'_

 _He heard a hiss come from behind him and spun around. His eyes widened in shock at the sight that greeted him. A massive crest extended from its eye-less head. A row of massive dorsal spikes erupted from its back. A spiked tail that was easily over 30ft long. Massive arms that ended in steel-rending claws, with a second, smaller set of arms that sprouted from its chest. Digitigrade legs, an exoskeleton that was almost as black as the world around them, and a height of 20ft, the Queen made for a terrifying sight. But strangely enough, S-3 didn't feel any fear. In fact, he felt…comforted. Like a child in the presence of their mother._

 _The Queen walked forward, her steps created a dull thumping sound. S-3 stood frozen, but not out of fear. He swore he heard someone whispering not to move. The Queen towered over him, gazing at him, assessing him…_

 _Her form began to ripple and distort, like she was made of water. She bared her teeth, the translucent daggers glowing in the darkness. She began to rise up, her form becoming that of a fleshy, black, bubbling mass. S-3 starred transfixed at the spectacle, unable to do anything except watch. The Queen had become unrecognizable as a Xenomorph, the only thing remaining that identified her as such was the maw at the top of the bubbling mass._

 _The maw let out an ear-splitting screech that shook the world. Then tendrils of the mass exploded forward with blazing speed, Subject 3's reflexes were too slow, and the tendrils wrapped around his body. But even so, despite the seemingly hostile action, S-3 didn't feel threatened, nor did he feel any fear. Instead, he felt an overwhelming sense of calm. And he felt…like this was…inevitable. Like no matter what…what was about to happen…was_ _fated_ _to happen._

 _The tendrils kept him rooted in place, an unnecessary action but whatever. The mouth opened impossibly wide, the teeth disappearing into the mass…_ _then it surged forth_ _! The mass engulfed the demigod whole._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _The mass clung to his skin, every micrometer of it. It felt like it was pulling, ripping, pushing, and piercing his body. He gasped in pain…and the mass surged down his throat into his body. The real transformation had begun._

 _The mass surged through his anatomy, restructuring his physiology, warping his DNA. The first changes were to fully awaken the cuttlefish genes within, awakening his camouflage ability. The next change came in the form of the digestive system. It was obliterated. The reason for the change was evident in the circulatory system. His blood was mutated to a point it could no longer be called blood, but molecular acid. With a method of transport such as that, nutrients would be destroyed in the bloodstream before they could reach the other parts of the body. So, in essence, he no longer needed food or water._

 _The second change was the respiratory system. It was also broken down into oblivion. But it and the digestive tracts were re-purposed to contain a different substance: acid. With his lungs turned into acid sacs, the need to breathe oxygen was eliminated. Special tubes were then created in the esophagus to allow the flow of acid to the mouth, where the mouth was then coated in a substance to prevent it from melting. A special structure was formed at the back of the throat to add pressure to the acid flow, similar to a garden-hose. His teeth were covered in the mass, but it quickly receded, its job done. In place of the usual pearly whites, translucent ones now lined his jaw, his canines being longer and sharper. Speaking of his jaw, it was augmented to open wider and the muscles where enhanced to add more bite power._

 _The third change was to his muscular and skeletal systems. They were both made denser, stronger, and had an added regenerative boost. From his elbows and knees sprouted retractable spikes, useful for surprise attacks against an enemy that had him in its grasp._

 _The fourth change came in the form of his hands. His nails became longer, sharper, and the tips could secrete the acid that travelled through his body, adding extra piercing and slashing capability. The keratin that made his nails was strengthened with enzymes produced by the mass covering his body. They were also outfitted with a projectile mechanism to launch his now-acidic claws at targets. When his claws were launched, new ones would slide into place, like the teeth of a shark. The palms of his hands and the soles of his feet became coated in an adhesive film, allowing traction on any solid surface regardless of angle or direction._

 _The fifth change was to his skin. First and foremost, it was colored black beyond human capability, adding to his night-time camouflage. Next, the entire epidermal organ was replaced with an exoskeletal-like structure, similar to crustaceans, yet didn't hamper mobility. The surface skin cells were replaced with polarized silicone, a flexible polymer able to handle environmental extremes. Combine his super- dense muscular and skeletal systems, with his exoskeletal skin, and you get a near-impenetrable, super shock-absorbing, body capable of handling a great amount of punishment. On top of his 'armor', if there was ever a breach in his 'armor,' the cells would regenerate to close the opening near-instantly. A healing-factor._

 _The sixth change occurred to his tailbone. Extending from the end of his spine, a 10ft, black, segmented tail ending in a blade, grew. The segments had blades on top, capable of rending metal, and were separated by tightly coiled muscle. The muscle in between each segment was similar to a rubber-band, able to extend great distances, and snap back into place quickly, giving him a_ _very_ _large tail range. The bladed tip of the tail was 8in of the total length, and was similar to his claws in that the edges of the blade also secreted his acidic blood. From the top of the segment-blades to the underside of the tail was 4in, and from side-to-side was 2in, giving the tail an ovular shape._

 _The seventh change was to his nervous system, in the way that two new sensory structures were added to his body, causing his brain to adapt to process theses new structures. The structures took the form of four dorsal tubes on his back, in-between his spinal column and shoulder blades, arranged in a 2x2 pattern. The top tubes were 5in long, and pointed up and out. The bottom tubes were 3in long, and were pointed down and out. The top ones were lined with electro-receptors, allowing him to detect the electric fields of other animals, just like the way a shark detected prey. The bottom tubes were more simplistic. They allowed him to detect and see the pheromones given off by other creatures, enabling him to determine their intentions. For example, an animal looking to kill him may appear red, while an animal that meant no harm to him would appear green._

 _The eighth change was to his senses. Black liquid bled from his nose, ears, and eyes as their structures were altered ever so slightly. The sensitivity of ears increased, strengthening his hearing to the point he could use echolocation as well as electro and pheromone location. The number of olfactory receptors inside of his nose increased, driving his sense of smell to rival that of an elephant. Finally, the structure of his eyes were changed. A second fovea was added to the back of his eye, increasing his visual prowess to that of a bird-of-prey. His sclera was left a midnight black, and his pupils became slits to further control his already heightened night-vision._

 _The ninth change was to his hair. The mass covered his raven tresses, molding them, changing them, altering them. When the mass receded, his hair was still black, but it looked like organic tendrils. His hair acted like the crest on a Queen, allowing him the power of telepathy._

 _The tenth and final change…was the most complex one. All Internecivus raptus were biologically female, relying on a host body to gestate in and birth from. As there was so much of that creature's DNA within him, his XY chromosome…was shifted to that of an XX chromosome. But, seeing as he was only six, the more noticeable changes wouldn't happen until sexual maturation…until puberty. Even still, his body was still changed. He became slimmer, his face slightly softer, his eyes became slanted and narrow, like a cat, and his tendril-like hair became longer. The mass covered his compression shorts and dissolved them, exposing his body._

 _The mass moved over the exposed region, and when it receded, he was now truly female._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _The black mass stopped pulsing, and lost its color. It went from midnight black to a light grey. The now-grey mass appeared to dry out, cracks appearing all over its surface. Then it shattered and dispersed within the void._

 _Sitting on her knees, Subject 3 panted from the metamorphosis she just underwent. She shakily stood up, not used to her new body. 'Time to test it out.'_

 _She raised her hand to her face and her new eyes narrowed. Black as the void around her and topped with razor-sharp claws that almost seemed to glow, she concentrated on making the pigment change from black to tan. After a few seconds, her exoskeleton obeyed her command. She smirked when she let it return to its new normal color. Then her claws came to mind. She pointed her hand outward and flexed._

 _Her claws shot forward like bullets from gun, but there wasn't any noise._

 _She watched in awe as new claws slid into place, a tickling sensation originating from her fingers. She decided to test out their acid tips and…_ _pushed_ _, for lack of a better word. As expected, her claw-tips became a poisonous green color. She pushed a little more and her claws began to_ _drip_ _acid. She grinned, her translucent teeth shining in the dark._

 _She decided to test out her tail next. She brought it in front of her (it felt weird moving around the extra appendage) and inspected it. Sleek, long, powerful, and the same color as her exoskeleton…she felt proud of it. She whipped her tail forward, a slight whooshing sound resonated in her ears. It moved so fast she almost missed her own tail moving. She brought it back and whipped it forward again. This time though, she extended the muscle in between the segments. As her tail shot forth, a brief whistle resounded through the air as_ _all_ _the muscles extended, shooting the blade-tip over 80ft in front of her. Her tail snapped back into place at 10ft and she smirked._

 _She thought of the acid sacs within her body. She opened her mouth, not sure how to bring up the acid without sticking her fingers down her throat. Then…instinct kicked in. She sucked in her gut, her throat constricted, and a stream of death erupted from her mouth. The acid shot forward_ _50ft_ _before losing pressure and dispersing in a cloud. She released the hold on where her stomach used to be and the acid flow was immediately cut off. The pool of acid that collected on the floor melted into the darkness shortly after._

 _She didn't have anything to lift to test her strength, but she had enough space to run. She wrapped her tail around her mid-section, all ten feet of it. When it was in place, it looked like she had black rope tied from her waist to her chest. She took a runner's stance, and after a few seconds, erupted from her position. She had run fast before, as a boy, but this speed? She could've dusted a sprinting cheetah by miles. She coasted down after 10 seconds, her breath still even. She couldn't tell how far she went, but she knew it was far._

 _Subject 3 grinned to herself, 'With this power, I'll be able to break out of the School without a problem. I'll even be able to get those kids I met a few days ago. Although, I wish I was able to test out these new sensory abilities. Anyway, how do I get out of here? How did I even get here?'_

 _S-3 was pondering what to do…_

… _when fire erupted across her mind._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Well, I'm going to call it here. I thought about writing more but I decided to leave it on a cliffhanger.**_

 _ **Let me know what you thought about the transformation, the dreams, and the School. Tell me, what do y'all think is happening to Percy right now? Tell me your theories in the review section please!**_

 _ **Don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Recommend this story to others!**_

 _ **AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!**_


	3. Rebirth

_Rebirth_

 _ **Wow…I haven't updated this story since last year…Alright…EIGHT REVIEWS?! Beautiful, guys, beautiful.**_

 _ **TheMysteriousOtaku- demi-god xenomorph, well everyone is screwed now, they were strong as hell beforehand now mix in demigod strength and supernatural powers and you have an even more overpowered xenomorph.**_

 _A most accurate observation._

 _ **NoOneInParticular17- Ah, another Gender-bender, why am I not 'supersized.' This story is shit now.**_

 _ **Goodbye.**_

 _Bye-Bye to you too. Also, I think you meant to say 'surprised.' But the reason you are not 'supersized' is because you can't spell-check._

 _ **aslaalsa-I hope that the pairing since Percy/S-3 is a girl is going to be Luke. And please don't make so that the hunt finds her if she does leave with the flock.**_

 _I never really thought about a pairing for this story. And no, the hunt will not find her, not with the Flock._

 _ **McCanner- Wow…this is awesome…**_

 _Thanks buddy!_

 _ **Xenomorph story lover- Don't do drugs kids. And yes, I did have to say that.**_

 _Advice worthy of DJ Khaled_

 _ **jharrel819- Could percy be able to turn into a human and back? Just while human can control what gender he is.**_

 _There is no such thing as 'human and back.' I completely re-wrote his DNA, so what he is now is permanent. I'm sorry if that displeases you or others, but this is_ _my_ _story. What I write is canon for this story._

 _ **adipose1913- This story is great, and if your purpose was to make an interesting and disturbing story, then MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Parts of this chapter really disturb me for various reasons (. the body horror, the fact that HE IS TWELVE, etc.). Kudos for tapping into the Alien eu for the details about his transformation, I really liked the alien comics by dark horse.**_

 _ **I only have a couple of questions. First from mr. Freud, will Percy's isolation and aggressive childhood evoke him having trust issues, and change his fatal flaw? The second question is the biology nerd: can xenomorphs only sense specific pheromones, or just all pheromones in general? Quick follow up, what are pheromones specifically (feel free to fudge this)?**_

 _To begin…Percy is currently six years old. As for trust issues and fatal flaws…well it isn't so much that trust will be a problem, so much as caution. Same for her sense of loyalty. Percy will become much more animalistic in this chapter. For your biology nerd, it has never been specified whether or not xenos can sense pheromones. If you've ever played the 2010 AvP video game, you'll know that Alien can tell threats from non-threats based on their 'pheromones', which are red for marines, green for civilians, and blue for androids. Finally, your follow up, pheromones are chemicals created by animals to communicate with each other._

 _I hope that answered all of your questions._

 _ **Guest-now the only thing to make S3 more likely to piss yourself is if S3 can make eggs they might not have half god blood in them making them ¼ but that is still scary as $#% &. I can see S3 killing or using people she doesn't like as hosts or animals. This could be pretty damn good can't wait for more.**_

 _I've been working on a way to make that possible without completely ruining the continuity of my story._

 _ **Be warned: Percy will pull a Son of Neptune a few paragraphs down. Please don't flame me for it.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Pain ripped through her head like a chainsaw._

 _Subject 3 was on her knees, body folded over as she gripped her head in a futile attempt to alleviate the inferno tearing through her head. She was gasping in agony, hurting so much that_ _tears_ _were slowly falling from her slit-eyes. She remembered what it felt like when the stuff was first injected into her body, and that was an ungodly amount of pain. The pain she was feeling now?_

 _It was beyond anything she had ever felt._

' _W-why is-s-s this h-h-hap-en-en-ing?' It hurt so much she literally couldn't think straight._

 _She reared back in a silent scream, her eyes wider than humanly possible, her pupils so dilated you couldn't see them, as the pain reached a crescendo. Then white exploded across her vision._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Slitted, sea-green eyes surrounded by pools of darkness snapped open. The slit pupils of the eyes became paper-thin to adjust to the brightness. The owner of the eyes sat up, confusion evident in their being._

 _The person looked around; a white void greeted their vision in all directions. Wait…what…was that? There in the distance…what was that? It looked like a glowing, acidic-green rift._

 _The being got up from their sitting position…and stumbled at the sudden weight behind them. The person turned around and blinked when they saw a black, spiked, bladed tail sticking out just above…above what, exactly? What was that area of the body called?_

 _The person shrugged their shoulders after coming up blank and began walking to the rift, their feet making a soft_ _tmp tmp tmp_ _as they impacted the…floor. The figure looked down at their feet. A midnight black body greeted their eyes. The figure raised their hands to their face…claws at the end of their fingers. The figure's hands roamed across their body, feeling it out. A smooth texture, yet very tough, proved when they tried to pierce their body with one of their claws only for the claw to_ _snap_ _…then regrow almost immediately._

 _The figure stopped touching itself and began to tread over to the rift again. The figure began to grow frustrated when the rift seemed to never get closer, despite the amount of distance covered. Actually it began to get further away. The figures eyes narrowed in anger at the continued distance increase. Without even thinking about it, the figure began to sprint, their body soaring past human limits._

 _The figure shrieked in rage when the rift seemed to speed up away from it. The figure leapt forward, smoothly transitioning into a four legged run. If someone was to bear witness to this event, they would see a black streak flash across their vision._

 _The figure had reached well above 120 miles per hour, and was finally gaining on the rift. Within seconds the person was within 15 feet of the rift. The figure pushed their body even harder, accelerating to 150 mph. The rift was almost close enough to touch. Just a little more…_

 _The rift suddenly exploded into a gigantic chasm of light…a chasm that the now-amnesiac Subject 3 barreled straight into._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

' _Where am I?' A simple question, yet no answer._

' _Who am I?' The voice was distinctly feminine._

' _What am I?' Something that we all ask._

" _A Xeno-biological marvel."_

 _Pain flared through her body. Memories exploding into her mind. The Queen was always the first. Her guards…the Praetorians. Her army…the Warriors, her servants…the Drones. Her children…the Hatchlings. Her beginning…the Egg-carriers._

" _These things can move on any surface."_

 _More pain, memories of climbing any obstacle, scaling any object, defying gravity by walking upside down on ceilings. If it was solid, she could climb it, without a doubt._

" _You can jump too, can't you?"_

 _The feeling of soaring through the air became present in the girl's mind. The feeling of pushing off with great strength and sticking to the adjacent surface with practiced ease._

" _Unmatched hostility."_

 _Pain once again made its presence known. Memories flooded her skull. Memories of death. Memories of how to kill. Memories of stealth. Memories of sneaking up behind prey, ripping their throats out, stabbing them in the stomach, impaling them from the anus and out the mouth. Memories of slicing their arms and heads off in a single swipe._

" _Unclouded by remorse."_

 _Memories of much more violent killing methods surged through her mind. Stabbing her claws into their eyes, snapping their neck and then ripping off their head. Impaling them through the chest, and then pulling their body across the length of the tail by their arm. Grabbing their head in a vice grip then stabbing them through the eye with her tail. Grabbing their body and bringing it close…so she could rip out their throats with her jaws._

" _It knows the darkness is its ally."_

 _With an exoskeleton black as night, she blended in perfectly with the shadows. With that ability, and her natural camouflaging ability, she was able to sneak up on anything and anyone, killing them before they even knew she was there._

" _A structurally perfect organism, no question."_

 _It was true. Whip-like tail, projectable claws, acid spray and blood, camouflage skin, super dense exoskeleton, sensory abilities that exceeded any animal on the planet, a brain built for best determining how to kill without feeling, and more physical strength than the strongest humans, she_ _was_ _perfect. She had the mind and body to prove it, too._

 _That's when I terrible shriek tore through her subconscious, rattling her whole body. "Hearing the call of the Matriarch, no doubt…"_

 _Her eyes opened, drinking in the sight before her._ _Three_ _Queens stood tall and proud before her, their forms radiating primal power, strength, and wisdom. 'Hello, child,' spoke the middle. 'You are indeed very strong and resilient,' spoke the left. 'But you're pain has not yet ended,' spoke the right._

' _It is time to return, child,' spoke the middle. 'You have learned all you need to for now,' spoke the left. 'Use these next years to hone your skills, discover your limits…and shatter them,' spoke the right._

 _Then all three roared at once, 'AWAKEN!'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cameras and sensors had been set up around the remaining space of S-3's cell, monitoring and recording everything possible.

For six days the whitecoats had been studying the chrysalis and the material holding it up. They were measuring, examining, taking pictures, performing tests…doing everything to understand what was going on inside the chrysalis.

They had made zero progress.

The resin-like material that made the chrysalis and the tendrils was extremely unresponsive. It was covered in a layer of slime that made gripping it near-impossible. Whenever a white-coat or Eraser tried to grab it, their hand would slide right off. Any test performed on the slime revealed nothing unusual about it. It was just regular slime.

Any attempts to cut the tendrils met with similar results. Scalpels and conventional cutting materials couldn't cut or pierce it, they only slid off like their hands. When they got creative and brought in other materials to cut the tendrils, they discovered the tendrils were also extremely tough. Any slicing motion was met with bouncing recoil. A number of Erasers had swords impaled into their faces after that debacle.

One white-coat even brought in a chainsaw to cut the tendrils. It slid off the slime-layer into his genitals.

After that beautiful fiasco, the Director ordered all white-coats out of the room and no one was allowed in, surveillance only. Their watching and waiting had resulted in a lot of boredom for the white-coats. Now though, their waiting was over.

Subject 3 was ready to be re-introduced to the world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a manner similar to the black mass, the tendrils began to dry out, losing their color and texture, becoming grey and cracked. The process started at the end of the tendrils, leading to the chrysalis itself. Then the chrysalis split down the middle…a black shape falling out of it.

The girl stood from her crouched position on the floor, rising to her full height. Her animalistic eyes snapped open, her heightened senses kicking in. 20x20x8 room, multiple machines, and two hostiles outside the door. Time to get out of here…just like her instincts told her.

Her eyes flickered over to the door when it opened. Two males entered, bare chested, well-muscled, and armed with automatic weapons. Threat level: minimal.

She tensed her tail tensed in preparation to remove their heads, when a trio of familiar voices spoke in her mind, _'Patience child. Now is not the time for escape. Now is the time to learn, to grow, to become stronger.'_ The girl hissed in annoyance at the Queens' command, but complied non-the-less, _'Yes…Mothers.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Erasers Larry and Joe were standing at the door to the most infamous freak in this place. This kid had a history with killing Erasers without a problem and without a care. Then the Boss Lady's voice came in over their ear-pieces, _"S-3 has emerged from his chrysalis. Retrieve him and bring him to my office."_

Larry and Joe looked at each other, a singular thought running through their heads, _'This will not end well.'_

Despite their intense dislike of what they were about to do, they were programmed to follow orders. Entering the cell, their gazes locked on the black _thing_ that was standing in the room. A few inches taller than four feet, unnatural black skin, long, barbed tail, tubes coming out of its back, weird looking hair…and its eyes. Oh, God, its eyes.

Sclera just as black as its skin and animalistic pupils that stared at them like they were its next meal. Its tail became still-tensed-then it _hissed_ at them. It wasn't like a cat's hiss either. It sounded more like breaking metal.

Larry took a closer look at what was supposedly Subject 3. His eyes caught sight of them that made him look over at his fellow Eraser, "I thought this kid was supposed to be a male?" Joe looked confused before he too took a closer look at S-3. His brows rose to his hair line.

Since when did males have vaginas?

He looked over at Larry, disbelief on his face. "What…the _hell_ …did they do to this kid?" Larry only shrugged, "I don't know," he turned to look at S-3, "But it's not our job to figure it out." He addressed the experiment, "Come with us. Boss Lady wants to speak with you."

He and Joe turned around and walked out of the room. After walking a few feet he turned his head to make sure the brat was behind them. He was not prepared to come face-to-face with a black spear-head attached to girl close enough to breath on him. _'I didn't even hear him-her…walking behind us. My hearing is so advanced I can perfectly decipher whispers from across a football field. What the hell is he-she-it?'_ He struggled to find the right pronoun to fit whatever was standing in front of him.

Larry gulped once before spinning on his heel and continuing his trek down the hall-way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

S-3 stared at the woman. The woman stared back. The men in white coats also stared at her. By their smells and faces, they knew something about herself that she didn't know. That was disconcerting.

The woman turned to look at the man that had square glasses and asked, "Have any ideas why S-3 looks like _she_ does now?" The man shook his head, "It more than likely has something to do with the DNA."

The woman nodded, "I agree," she turned to the men beside her, "Take her to the labs and begin testing immediately." S-3 narrowed her eyes. She wouldn't be some guinea pig. She would be respected…and feared. Without a second thought she flicked her tail…removing the heads of the men that brought her here. Blood erupted from their necks like a geyser, painting the office red.

As the men's heads fell to the floor, a cruel smirk spread across Subject 3's face as she took in the horrified looks of the scientists. But the woman only watched with morbid fascination. _'So she doesn't fear me…we'll have to work on that.'_ Without a word, S-3 turned around and walked out of the blood-soaked office.

The Director looked at the trembling men, "Well? What are you waiting for? She isn't going to perform tests on herself." The scientists looked at her with fear in their eyes. The Director sighed, before she smirked, _'She deliberately killed those Erasers to instill a sense of fear in us, making us hesitate to approach her and order her around, essentially making us her submissives. Heh. Clever girl.'_

She looked at Subject 3's retreating from, _'You are, without a doubt, the most interesting experiment we've ever conducted.'_ An insane grin split her face. _'I look forward to_ _breaking_ _you!'_ The girl suddenly whipped her head around, staring at the Director out of the corner of her eye, sending a silent message that made the deranged woman's grin stretch even further, _'I look forward to watching you try.'_

All the while, Jeb Batchelder watched with an expressionless face. The gears in his mind beginning to turn.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Two days later_

Due to her new form, S-3 was moved to a new room. It was only a few feet larger than the room she woke up in. The wall in front of her had a hydraulic door at the far right that led to an observation room with a window that spanned most of the wall. A window spanned the entire length of the left wall, allowing her to see the hallway. The right wall was just that…a wall. It had two lights on a slanted space between the ceiling and the wall it-self. On the ceiling were a few air-vents and a single square-shaped light. The back wall was just like the front, with a door and window parallel to each other. However, instead of being an observation room, this chamber was more like death row. With a door on the opposite side of the chamber, people entered through there and would enter through the door that opened into S-3's room. **(It's just like Specimen 6's room in AVP3, but without the restraining device.)**

S-3's attention was drawn to the observation room when she sensed a two men enter. The first was a generic white coat-a term she had started using when describing the scientists-and an older man.

The man was easily into his sixties, with slicked-back grey hair, blue eyes, and wrinkles around his mouth. His name tag said H.G. Groves.

"Ah Subject 3, I've heard so much about you. Let's see if the rumors are true. Basic responses first," safely behind his bullet proof glass, he raised his arm to S-3's left, "Simple orient your head in the direction indicated." S-3 stared at him, _'Is this guy serious?'_ Mentally rolling her eyes at this idiot, she decided to play along. She turned her head left, then right, then up. "Obedient, very good. Now on to the next tests." S-3 had to resist the urge to _test_ how her acid would affect the glass in front of her.

"Apparently, the film on your hands and feet can form an adhesive bond between any solid surface, allowing you to essentially walk on walls. Mind giving us a demonstration?" S-3 was really annoyed with this guy, but none-the-less began scaling her cell. Groves was intrigued.

"The good doctors have informed me that your muscular and skeletal structures have been enhanced…what does that entail, exactly?" S-3 was quickly becoming bored with acting like a monkey for this meat sack.

Groves' eyes widened in awe when he watched the recombinant start pin-balling across the cell, bouncing from surface to surface, all that was visible was a black blur. _'Amazing…such strength…such speed…'_

A smirk appeared on the scientist's face when he thought of the _extracurricular activities_ that the higher ups and planned for today. "That's enough. You can stop jumping now." The blur came to halt in the middle of the cell, S-3 was crouched with her tail waving lazily behind her. Groves turned to his companion, "Send in the first test subject."

Subject 3 continued to stare at Groves…that's when her senses picked to approaching signatures. Immediately catching on to what Groves was planning, S-3 came up with a counter-plan, _'He's using people to measure my combat capabilities so the white-coats can create the proper counter-measures to combat me. It's not going to work. Not like you think it will. I'll show you some of what I can do, but not everything. I'll enjoy watching your expressions when I_ _kill_ _all of you.'_

She turned around when the door to the back chamber was opened and a scraggily man was thrown in by one of the grunts. She leapt into the bottom left corner of the cell, hiding from her prey. Groves' voice came over a hidden speaker, "You are participating in vital research, my friend." The soon to be dead-man seemed to know the scientist, "Doc Groves? What is this?" The dead-man entered Subject 3's domain, ignorant of the creature that was waiting to his far left.

The man, not seeing anything in the room he just entered, began to walk over to the observation window. S-3 silently leapt onto the ceiling and began to crawl just behind her prey, stalking him without a sound. Prey had reached the middle of the cell, when Groves decided to give some commentary, "She almost seems to toy with her prey." Prey seized up, sweat dripping down his face at the doctor's comment, _'Prey? She?!'_ Prey whipped around, his eyes darting all around the room, searching for anything out of the ordinary.

S-3 got bored of watching the man squirm beneath her and decided to end this quickly. She dropped down behind him, making a soft thumping noise. Prey whirled around to discover the source of the sound…only to have his lower jaw sent flying across the cell.

S-3 watched as Prey stood stunned, his eyes locked with hers, his mind not yet caught up with what just happened. Blood fell down like a river from where his lower jaw once was, his tongue hanging loosely. He stumbled a bit before falling to his knees. S-3 turned her body and let the corpse fall to the floor. A pool of blood quickly formed underneath it. "Yes, an easy kill." S-3 turned her gaze back to Groves. "Send in another test subject."

A similar process to the first. A man came in, S-3 jumped above him, stalking him, then she dropped behind him and snapped his neck like it was a twig. "That was remarkably…underwhelming," spoke Groves, "Please, try more upfront methods this time. Send in another test subject." This guy and his test subjects. Fine. He wanted upfront? He'll get it.

She watched the hallway as an Eraser and another man walked toward the back chamber door. She chose to wait at the entrance to her cell, arms crossed. The man entered the chamber, ignorant of his impending death.

The man watched as the door opened and he entered…only to come face-to-face with a black nightmare of a child.

S-3 launched herself forward into the man's gut, sending them into the wall, knocking the wind out of him…and breaking a few bones. She grabbed him by the shirt and hurled him into her cell, his body crashing into the observation window, cracking the glass. Groves and the white-coat flinched in shock.

S-3 stalked forward, her feet soaking in the blood of her first kill, stepping over the body of the second, then standing silently over the next one, staring into his eyes. The man trembled in terror. She was about to end his pathetic life when a smell registered in her nose, a foul one at that. _'He just defecated, didn't he?'_ She growled at him, an inhuman rumble ripping from her throat. Originally, she was just going to decapitate him with her tail, but now? For performing such a disgraceful act in front her…his death was going to be excruciating.

She held her hand out to her side, her claws pointed to the floor. The tips her claws began to glow an acidic-green…before drops of the same color began to fall to the floor. Upon impact, the floor sizzled and burned, the acid eating away at the concrete, creating rather large holes. The man stared at the acid, then back to S-3, his eyes widening in realization…and pure…unadulterated…horror.

Subject 3 moved her hand over the man's body, ignoring his pathetic pleas for mercy. Drops of acid fell onto his legs…then his torso…and then his head. She relished in his agonized shrieks as his legs were melted off, as his torso was disintegrated, and as his wails faded into nothingness as his head was dissolved.

Groves watched in morbid fascination as Subject 3 turned his cousin into a puddle of melting tissue. He always hated that guy, always got him in trouble at family dinners. He was going to have to get someone to clean this mess up. Dead bodies, blood, cracked bullet-proof glass, and holes where the floor was supposed to be. The Director and he were going to have a long conversation about collateral damage.

His attention was drawn back to Subject 3. Her slit-eyes stared at him, a silent message as loud as an explosion, _'Was that upfront enough for you?'_

Groves couldn't help the sadistic grin that split his face, "Well done, 3, well done. That's enough for today, I think." She watched as Groves and his companion exited the observation room, her eyes tracking them as they walked away. They turned a corner, escaping her sight…but not her senses. She sat down on the floor, Indian style, and focused on her electro-location abilities.

Ignoring the interference from the various electric systems and wires, she located her targets. They were moving through the hallways, she projected their destination to be that woman's office from a few days ago.

She was correct. _'You've done well, child.'_ S-3's face lit up like the child she was supposed to be when the triple-voice of the Queens resonated in her mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Director watched at the footage of Subject 3's latest kills, a contemplative look on her face. After the end of the video, Groves spoke up, "Remarkable, isn't she?" The Director looked at him, "Indeed she is. Her claws, molecular acid, yes?" The other white-coat nodded in response to his employer's question. "I suspect that it's more powerful than sulfuric acid, based on how quickly it ate through the floor and Test Subject 3."

The Director hummed to herself, "We'll have to invest in some acid resistant floors, then." She looked back at her top scientist, "Based on the combat data recorded pre-transformation and Subject 3's new body, I don't think humans and Erasers will be adequate for obtaining appropriate data." Groves nodded in agreement and the white-coat looked confused. "Doctor Groves…" she started, a psychotic smirk tearing her face apart.

"… _time to bring in the big guns!"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Hey guys! I hoped you enjoyed this latest instalment in**_ _ **Xenomorphic.**_

 _ **Who are the Queens? Does anybody recognize half of the content of this chapter?**_

 _ **Let me know what your theories are in the review section, please!**_

 _ **As always…Fav, Follow, and tell your friends about my story! Constructive criticism welcome.**_


	4. Death Matches

_Death Matches_

 _ **Hello people! Welcome to the next chapter of Xenomorphic. For those of you who have read Backup Plan and are wondering when the next update is: I will begin to work on it once more when this story also reaches six chapters.**_

 _ **Now to address my reviewers…**_

 _ **Fire of the Void-**_ _That won't happen for a few more chapters, but it will be awesome._

 _ **UnwantedNox-**_ _Yes, Inspiration was drawn from the game, but it will not happen exactly like it._

 _ **aslaalsa-**_ _Thanks for the praise. I've been brainstorming different names but have yet to find one that fits. Feel free to leave suggestions for me!_

 _ **Xenomorph story lover-**_ _Thanks_

 _ **adipose1913-**_ _Brainwashed is, I think, too strong a word. Percy's instincts have been altered almost to the point of animalism. She sees herself as the alpha and will do anything to make sure everyone else sees it that way as well. As for 'sadistic killer', as a boy, Percy still took a sick pleasure in killing the Erasers._

 _Conflict between 'split personalities' won't be an issue. As far as Percy is concerned, all she has ever known was the void featured in the previous chapters, and the confines of the School._

 _And yes, Percy is_ _very_ _capable of individual thought. She has inborn authority-issues with people, but will listen to the Queens because of instincts telling her to obey them. She is more Alien than Human after all._

 _P.S. Your reviews are awesome. They have the type of questions I love to answer. Don't be afraid to PM me if you have more._

 _ **EllieGmanlovesHalo-**_ _Not entirely true. While she is less than a 50/50 human/demigod hybrid, she is not a complete xenomorph and is_ _fully_ _capable of human reproduction. However, facehuggers_ _will_ _play a part in this story. Thanks for the compliment, too._

 _ **Now then…on to the bloodbath. Reader discretion is advised. Also, I do not own any characters from comics, anime, video games, movies, etc.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke Castellan shot up screaming from his sleeping bag, startling awake his long-time companion, Thalia Grace and their newest addition, Annabeth Chase. The two reached for their weapons, Thalia producing a bronze spear and Annabeth pulling out a dagger of the same color, both of them whipping their heads around wildly, looking for monsters.

It wasn't the first time either.

After confirming they were safe, they both turned to Luke's sweat-soaked form, understanding in their eyes. "Nightmare?" asked Thalia. Luke flinched at her voice, as if he just realized she was there. "Luke?" The Son of Hermes whipped around to face the youngest. Annabeth shrunk under her idol's frantic, bloodshot eyes.

When it dawned on Luke that he had scared her, he came back to reality. He pulled the child into his arms, comforting her in the same way a big brother comforts his little sister. Thalia looked on with concern. What had Luke dreamed about that had him so terrified?

"I'm fine, Annabeth. Just a bad dream is all." The blonde was unconvinced. So was the Daughter of Zeus, "Luke," her voice was hard as ice, "What did you see?" Luke knew better than to argue when Thalia used _the voice_.

He let go of Annabeth so he could begin his recounting of the horror he just witnessed.

"I was in some kind of facility, run by mortals. There was a boy, he looked about your age, Annabeth." The girl's eyes narrowed. Luke continued, sadness evident in his voice, "He had a light tan, but," he hesitated, "His skin was covered in scars." The girls gasped.

"He had black hair like yours, Thalia. His eyes were green…like the color of the sea. I know it was a dream, but…I could _smell_ him," he looked straight at Thalia, "He smelled like the ocean." Her electric blue orbs nearly fell out of her sockets. Annabeth asked the obvious, "You think he was a son of Poseidon?" Luke nodded his head, his eyes grave.

"Yeah I do. But what happened next makes me question my assumption." He paused, thinking about if he should go into detail about this. Annabeth's impatience made the decision for him, "Well? Out with it."

Luke sighed, a small grin on his face, _'Never change, Annie, never change.'_ His smile faded as he began again, "The boy was sitting in a dark room. It looked more like a cell, actually. Anyway, the door was opened, and a man entered. He didn't wear a shirt, he was ripped, and he kinda looked like an animal, all things considered." Annabeth giggled and Thalia rolled her eyes. "The boy killed him." The girls' amusement was abruptly ended with that statement.

Annabeth asked a tentative question, "How…did he…kill him?" Luke was staring at the ground, his face illuminated only by their dying fire. "The man ordered him to get up, but he didn't. The man got annoyed and waked into the room, and reached his arm out to grab the boy. Kid promptly snapped his wrist and double-punched him the stomach hard enough to make the man cough blood." Annabeth interrupted, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. He just snapped a grown man's wrist _and_ hit him with enough force to rupture his internal organs?" Luke only nodded grimly, "That's not even the worst part. The man had doubled over the kid's back. So, somehow, the kid lifted the man…and slammed him head first into the floor. I _felt_ the man's neck snap." Annabeth looked horrified and Thalia was shocked. "So you're telling me…that a little kid, that's about Annabeth's age…picked up a 200-plus lb. man…and then _slammed_ _that man into the ground, hard enough to snap his neck?"_ Thalia's disbelief was palpable.

"That wasn't all he did either. There was a man in a white coat waiting outside the door. He said something about augmentations, but I have no idea what he was talking about. He and the boy walked through the halls of the building, then they reached a giant gym, where a bunch of other guys in white coats were waiting. They had him lift weights." Annabeth's ADHD made itself known once again, "Impossible. No one my age could lift weight, it would stunt our growth." Luke only chuckled humorlessly in response, "Believe me Annie," she pouted at the nickname, "I don't think stunted growth is on his list of concerns. Whatever these people did to him, it's unnatural…even by demigod standards." He looked at his companions, "He was easily moving weight that _grown men_ couldn't do."

Thalia and Annabeth stared at him wide eyed, "H-how much w-weight was he l-l-lifting?" the Daughter of Zeus managed to stutter out. "He was squatting 495 pounds, benching 350, power-cleaned 245, and military pressed 185 pounds." Annabeth was quick to refute, "That's insane! There's no way a six year old could do an eighth of any of that weight! He would rip his muscles to shreds!" Luke just smirked at her outburst, "If you think that's crazy, wait till I tell you what his track times were." Thalia was hesitant to ask, but did so anyway, "How fast was he, Luke?"

The Son of Hermes looked at her, "He shattered all of my records like they were made of glass." _That_ threw the girls for a loop. As a son of the God of Thieves and Travelers, Luke's speed easily surpassed that of an Olympic-level athlete. He was quite proud of that too, so for him to freely admit that this kid was far faster than he was…that was something serious.

"That's not all, is it?" Thalia sounded like she was challenging something. "No, that's not all," Luke answered. "After he was done running, the scientists had him and four other grown-men enter a boxing ring. They told them that only one group would exit the ring alive." Thalia's eyes narrowed and Annabeth gasped. "To make graphic story short, the boy killed the first three, and chased after the fourth one after he ran for his life."

"Did he do it?" Annabeth asked, "Did he kill the fourth man?" Luke nodded, his eyes glued to the ground, "The boy chased him through the halls, cornering him inside of a large room." He looked up, his face looked gaunt, "There were children locked in cages inside of that room."

Annabeth was horrified and Thalia looked like a ghost.

"The man gave a last stand. His body… _changed_. After he was done, he looked exactly like a werewolf." Luke ignored his friends' looks, "The werewolf changed at the boy. He got close, like, really close, but the boy slid underneath him. The werewolf went down, slamming his snout hard on the floor. The boy stood back up and turned around. He brought his leg up…and slammed it down on the man's spine." Thalia and Annabeth dropped their jaws. "Then the boy snapped his neck." Annabeth turned green. Thalia looked like she had just seen the most disturbing thing on the internet.

"The boy walked out of the room and through the halls, where he met up with the scientists. They said that they had another experiment for the day, that they were going to give him infrared vision." Annabeth frowned, her overly-rational mind not computing what she was hearing. "Were they successful?" Annabeth looked over at Thalia.

"Yes they were." Thalia gasped, "My gods…" Luke just stared off in the distance, "A few days later they came for him again. This time it was a woman. She said that she was the director of that place. She said they had another experiment to conduct. She took him to another laboratory. He was tied down to the operating table with metal clamps." The girls looked pensive about what was coming.

If only they knew.

Luke continued, "A woman injected him with pain-killers, saying they were precautionary. They didn't do a damn thing to help him." Annabeth and Thalia frowned at his language. "She grabbed a syringe filled with a black liquid, stuck it in his neck…and pushed." He looked at Thalia, and her heart broke at the look in his eyes. He looked devastated.

"He screamed in agony."

Thalia and Annabeth moved to comfort him. They placed their arms on his shoulders. "I tried to help him. I wanted to help him so much," his body wracked with a sob, _"But I couldn't!"_ he roared. He sprung up from the girls' arms, rage surging through his body.

He needed to vent.

"I ran to his side, and tried to open the restraints, but I couldn't _fucking_ touch them! He screamed so loud…his body jerked…and _he_ ripped the restraints off!" Luke was pacing around their camp, fury in his eyes, "He got off the table and a bunch of men broke down the godsdamned door," he seethed, "And shot him full of tranquilizer darts!" He slammed his fist into a tree. The bark cracked under his strength, his knuckles began to bleed. "I felt so useless," The strength seemed to leave his body, "I wanted to help him _so bad._ But I couldn't." Annabeth was silently crying into her hands, Luke's emotions affecting her as well.

Thalia moved to comfort her friend. She placed a hand on his shoulder, "There was nothing you could've done. It was a dream, Luke. You couldn't have helped that kid in anyway. It's not your fault." Thalia's words were meant to soothe the volatile Son of Hermes…but they had a disastrous effect.

Luke looked up from the ground, his eyes gaining a dangerous glint to them, "You're right…"his voice came out in a hiss. Thalia backed up from the dark vibe Luke was emanating. He whipped around and Thalia stumbled back onto her butt when she saw the insanity in her friend's eyes; Annabeth whimpered.

" _It's the Gods' fault!"_ He was roaring. _"If they paid attention to their children and actually looked after us, none of us would be where we are now!"_ He was panting from finally letting his emotions out. "If our parents actually cared about us…" he whispered, "None of this would be happening…"

"If none of this happened…we would never have met each-other."

Luke and Thalia looked over at Annabeth. Her eyes were hidden by her blonde hair. "If the Gods never forgot about us, you and Thalia and I wouldn't have ever met. A-a-and," her voice trembled, "We wouldn't be the family we are now!" She broke down into tears again.

Thalia hugged Annabeth close to her, whispering soft words into her ear. Luke looked away, guilt rising within him. He raised his head to the sky, glowering at the full moon. He knew very well who the Goddess of the Moon was, and her reputation for mutilating men, but he didn't give a flying fish. His teeth grinded, _'I know you're watching, Moon Goddess. I know you're watching Thalia and Annabeth suffer, and not doing anything about!_ The moon's glow seemed to intensify, _'I don't care what happens to me. All I want is for my family to be safe. But the beings with divine authority sit on their asses and abandon their children to every horror known and unknown to mankind!'_ Luke stopped his mental rant, his eyes hardening into steel. He raised his hand to the moon, his fingers breaking up the moonlight, casting a splayed shadow over his face. _'I will change our world…'_

He clenched his fist, covering his face in darkness, _'…no matter what.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 could only be described with one word: bored.

It had been about a day since her last _test._ She had allowed a clean-up crew to enter her cell and take care of the mess she made. With nothing to do, she began practicing with her sensing abilities. She used her pheromone-sensing to track her chosen subject until he/she was out of her range-which she judged to be 50 meters. Then she would switch to her electro-sensing. It had a range surpassing her pheromone-sense by an additional 70 meters.

After tracking one target for a time, she would switch to another, then she would try to track multiple targets at once. A successful endeavor, she was able to actively follow four people at once without getting a migraine. Of course, that didn't mean she still couldn't smell and detect those within her immediate range, it just meant she could focus on four people with more intense attention. Enough that she could tell you what they were saying by the way their bio-electricity moved their muscles.

She could read lips. No idea how, but she could read lips.

But despite her many advantages, she still had the attention span of a six year old girl. She got bored after a few hours of practicing her sensing abilities, and tried to think of something to do. She drew a blank. So she just sat there…waiting for something to happen…sometimes taking note of the people coming and going through the facility… _God! Let something happen!_

That's when she picked up on a _large_ group approaching her position. She counted eleven men and one woman. The woman was the same one she met on her day of birth, the men were just like the first two she killed…and all armed. Every single pheromone being given of the battalion was a glaring red.

 _This was going to be fun._

She had already come up with 15 different strategies to kill them all when they finally reached her door. They all stood at the entrance to the back chamber, waiting for her. The doors to the chambers opened. S-3 walked out of her cell, into the chamber…when a bunch of gas erupted from the chamber ceiling. The doors slammed shut, trapping her within. The gas entered through her orifices, traveling through her body.

She slammed her fist against the glass window, cracks spreading from the impact. She gasped as a wave of fatigue wracked her body. How the hell was that possible?! She didn't need to breath and she had molecular acid for blood. How the Hell was this knockout stuff affecting her?!

Regardless, she continued to pound the glass. Once…twice… _thrice…!_

CRACKSH!

 _The bullet-proof glass shattered into pieces._

She fell to the ground, feeling weaker than she had ever felt before. She crawled on the floor for a few yards, her body aching. She looked up when she heard footsteps, the woman appearing on her radar. She looked up at her, taking note of the gasmask she wore. It was her eyes that gave credence to the triumphant grin that lay beneath her mask.

S-3 growled softly, _'I'm going to enjoy feeding on your corpse.'_

The she blacked out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Subject 3 regained consciousness, she didn't snap open her eyes. Instead, she took the time to use her senses to analyze where she was. Her ears picked up muffled grunts and groans. Her nose picked the scents of animals…and blood. She didn't open her eyes, so she couldn't _see_ any pheromones, but her electro-location detected several large creatures within 80 meters of her position. She also detected a number of humans above her to the far right.

She was in some type of arena.

Subject 3 opened her eyes, confirming her thoughts. Circular in shape, dull white floors, rounded walls rising about 15 meters up, a domed ceiling, and, unsurprisingly, an observation window at the top-right of the arena. The room was occupied with Doc Groves, the Director, the man with the glasses, and few other white-coats. Groves and the director were out-lined in red, Glasses was outlined in green, and the rest had no distinguishable scent from threat or non-threat.

Speaking of threats, all around the arena were closed steel doors. Behind those doors…she could see the hostile outlines of several creatures that were…deformed.

" _Subject 3, can you hear me?"_ The voice of the woman broke the young hybrid out of her thoughts. She turned her head to the observation window, the smirking face of the director greeted her eyes. The woman's face broke out into a grin, _"Of course you can. We have a lot of fun things planned for today! Since you've made it perfectly clear that humans and Erasers are no match for your strength…we've decided to introduce you to our more…_ _violent_ _experiments."_ S-3 turned her gaze to the door directly in front of her when it began to open, revealing the demonic love-child between an elephant and a human being.

Easily over 15ft tall, dark-grey skin, the head of an elephant, a loincloth covering his crotch, and super-beefy limbs…Subject 3 was less than impressed. _"Your fist play-date today is with Mammomax. He's 95% human, 5% Loxodonta Africana," she grinned, "The African Elephant."_ S-3 looked back up at the woman. _"You two play nice now, and S-3? If you're a good little girl I'll take you out for ice-cream!"_ The Director finished with child-like glee.

…

…

… _What?!_

Subject 3's grinded together with enough force that one of them _cracked._ How dare this _human_ treat her like a common _child_. The ground began to rumble as Mammomax ran at her. S-3 turned her furious gaze to the charging hybrid.

Oh good. An outlet.

The demigoddess began to handspring backwards, flipping end over end, until she landed on the wall behind her, her feet sticking to the surface. Mammomax had just reached the spot she was just at. She crouched on the wall, her muscles coiling, her claws beginning to glow with acid. The elephant got closer, and closer, _and closer_ …then S-3 exploded from the wall with enough force to leave a crater in it. She blurred through the air at Mammomax. She had the pleasure of seeing the expression on the experiments face…before she speared a hole through his body, straight through his heart.

She rolled as she landed, then twisted her body, her claws tearing gashes in the floor, slowing her down. She grinned at the sight of the massive corpse laying on the ground, a pool of blood quickly forming beneath it.

" _That was rude, S-3. You didn't have to kill the poor boy. He was only eight years old after all."_ The girl hissed in response, _"Oh well, time for the next play-date."_ A door to the left of her opened up…and the most grotesque thing she had ever seen walked out. A relatively normal left side of the body, but a horribly dis-figured right side. _Was that an eye in his shoulder?_

" _Like him? This is William Birkin. He decided to inject himself with his personal creation, the G-virus. He lost his mind, and now he's so excited play with you!"_ Her voice elevated at the end, then she spoke in a quieter, yet more dangerous tone, _"Why don't you return the favor?"_

S-3 analyzed Birkin. Giant claw for a right hand, spike on the right shoulder, massive eye in-between the two abnormalities, and increased muscle mass overall. Threat Level: Low.

The mutant roared and began to run at her. He was definitely faster than Mammomax, closing the distance between them in a few seconds. S-3 watched him approach, a plan already created in her mind to deal with this thing. She still had some rage she needed to vent.

The monster jumped up and jabbed his claw at her. S-3' brow twitched. She grabbed the claw before it could pierce her, and used Birkin's momentum to spin them around, before launching him through the air. He impacted the ground… _hard_. Unfortunately for the demigoddess, Birkin's physiology allowed to take a lot of damage. He got up from the indent he made in the ground, growling at S-3.

Said experiment only stared at him an unreadable expression. Her tail unwrapped itself from her waist, all ten feet of it pointed at Birkin. The former man took a runner's stance, his claw pointed forward, his left cocked back. He took off with explosive force, the ground cracking beneath him. S-3 also began to sprint at Birkin. The difference was that S-3 was _much_ faster.

She was front of Birkin before he moved more than fifteen feet, her tail flowing behind her. She jumped, her tail ram-rod straight, and front-flipped. She landed a few paces behind the former scientist…her tail was dripping with blood. She turned around and stared at Birkin.

He stumbled for a few feet… _before his body split in half._ The two halves fell apart, his internal organs spilling out.

Subject 3 felt a certain amount of satisfaction in that.

" _Aww, you killed him. If you continue to behave like this, little girl, I'm going to have to give you a spanking."_ The 'little girl' slowly turned her head to the observation window, her eyes twitching, _"What's the matter, baby girl? You look cranky, perhaps it's time for your nap?"_ The Director's face radiated a savage glee in what she was doing, and her next words caused Subject 3 to snap, _"Or do you need your diaper changed?"_

The girl _shrieked_ in unholy rage, her crystal-clear vision tinged with crimson. She hurled herself at the observation window, her midnight-body blurring through the air. When she registered the smirk on the woman's face, S-3 knew she had screwed up. The Director hit a button on her console, causing two panels on either side of the window to open up. Tesla coil-like objects came out of the opening, bolts of electricity intercepting S-3 a few feet from the window.

A new definition of pain came to mind when the demigoddess was struck with those bolts, suspending her in the air. As she writhed in pain, she took note of the sneering face of the woman she loathed with every fiber of her being. The pain intensified, and S-3 was sent flying back to the arena floor.

She bounced up when she impacted, then she righted herself in midair, landing on all fours. Smoke rose from her body, and if she still needed to breath, she would be panting. S-3 snarled up at the observation window, the face of the Director being the focal point of her slitted pupils.

" _My, my! What a naughty girl you've been! Killing your play-mates and then trying to attack your own mother! I thought I raised you better than that!"_ She said, mock-hurt in her voice. S-3 snarled at her.

' _You are not my mother.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

' _You are not my mother.'_

Marian Janssen gasped when she heard a young, female voice inside her head. Now, most people freak out when they heard a girl's voice in their head, but not the Director. She had seen and done many stranger things. Telepathy was not new to her, but hearing it (most likely) come from Subject 3 was shocking in and of itself.

' _So then…super strength, speed, agility, stamina, intelligence, and healing. As well as suspected hyper-senses, acid-dripping claws, a barbed tail, and adhesive palms and feet. Now we can add telepathy to your ever-growing list of abilities. I do wonder: when will we discover everything there is to know about you, Perseus Jackson?'_

"Director? Are you alright?" The voice of Jeb broke from her musings. She looked at her head scientist, "I'm quite alright. I believe Subject 3 just unintentionally spoke to me telepathically." The employees behind her broke out into mutterings. Groves looked astonished and Jeb looked startled.

"Are you certain, Director?" She turned and looked Groves dead in the eye, "Yes. The voice I heard definitely belonged to that of a young girl. It said 'You are not my mother.' Taking into account what I said to Subject 3 just before I heard the voice, I think it's safe to assume she is the one behind it."

Jeb was the voice of reason among the excited whispers, "If she can indeed communicate telepathically, that could provide more problems than anything."

"How so?" Groves asked.

Jeb stared down at Subject 3, "If she can read our minds, she can get access to this facilities layout and system commands. If we want to keep her here and prevent a massacre…that is information we do not need to be broadcast to her via brainwaves."

The Director nodded, "If she can read minds, we'll have to come up with a way to keep our thoughts from reaching her." The people behind her began to scribble away on their clipboards, no doubt brainstorming ways to make that possible.

"Now then," All attention was brought back to her, "Let's continue with the next tests."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 was monitoring the conversation going on above her with her lip-reading ability. Telepathy, huh? She would have to practice more with that one. Oh the next tests? Fun times.

This time, _two_ out of the remaining ten doors opened. To her left emerged a beast of a man. Eleven feet tall, tough, scaly skin, glowing yellow eyes, razor sharp claws and pointed teeth sticking out of his mouth. He looked like a cross between a human and a crocodile.

To her right emerged a humanoid bat creature. Its arms extended to become its wings and massive ears sprouted from its deformed head. Its pale white eyes stared at her without expression. The other's eyes stared at her hungrily.

" _These two experiments are designated 'Killer Croc' and 'Man-Bat.' Croc is cannibalistic and will anything that moves, while Man-Bat has intense survival instincts. He'll do whatever it takes to live, even if it means killing a little girl."_ S-3 stared at the snarling form of Killer Croc, _"Have fun with these two."_

S-3 did something different this time. She ran at Croc first. The beast roared in response. He spread his arms wide and began to charge. He got five steps in before S-3 was in front of him. But Croc had faster reflexes than Birkin.

Subject 3 leapt at Croc, claws splayed out, tail flailing behind her. Croc clapped his hands together catching the Xeno hybrid mid-jump. His strength actually made her wince. Croc roared in her face, his mouth open wide to literally bite her head off. _Perfect._

Croc was just about bite off an acid-filled cranium…when a very sharp object pierced his brain.

S-3 couldn't help but marvel at this creature's stupidity. Surely he saw her tail? Surely he knew opening his mouth would give her a bullseye target? Regardless, she ripped her tail out of Killer Croc's mouth, a brief spray of blood got on her face. The beast fell to his knees, his hands falling his sides, releasing the girl. The he fell on his face, blood beginning to drip from his mouth, his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Despite going straight for the crocodile, she kept her senses trained on the Bat…which is why she rolled to her left to avoid the experiment's talons. She looked on Man-Bat flew back into the air, screeching. He began to bank around, flapping his arms. Subject 3 merely looked on, waiting for her moment to strike. The creature screeched and began to dive-bomb at the girl. His last act in his natural life.

Subject 3 chalked up her last two victories to her opponent's lack of knowledge on her abilities. As it was, the girl rolled forward to just under the flying beast, and in one fluid motion…whipped her tail straight above her. Man-Bat was bisected at the waste. The two halves of his body hit the ground and began to the roll across it, painting a trail of blood on the floor. The corpse slammed into the wall in-between two closed doors, the red outlines of the occupants slamming into their doors, most likely because they smelled fresh meat.

The hybrid looked around the arena, her gaze resting on each of the cooling bodies scattered around the floor, and the pools of blood beneath them. The smell of the dead was almost nauseating. But did she feel any remorse, any pity? No. She did not. In fact…the only thing she felt was superiority. Satisfaction. _Dominance._

She had killed four creatures-all of them bigger and larger than she was-without a problem. She was stronger. She was faster. She was _smarter._ None of these animals posed any threat to her. She was the apex predator of this domain.

" _Well color me surprised. The Croc-Bat combo has been the end of many experiments. Any-who…we're not done yet with today's playdates~"_ The Director's sing-song voice really irritated the girl. S-3 had been brainstorming different ways to kill her ever sense she had woken up, but she had yet to divine a method that wouldn't end with her own death.

The doors that Man-Bat had landed next to opened up, revealing the most disappointing challenges yet. Out of the door to her left emerged five mutated hyenas. They were bigger, smellier, and looked more rabid. Their fur was matted and unruly, their teeth were jagged and pointed in all direction, slobber pouring out of their maws, and their claws were larger and sharper.

Out of the right door emerged a mutant grizzly bear. Dark grey fur, burning red eyes and the size of a truck, it would definitely be imposing for just about anything else on this planet…but S-3 found it vexing.

' _You've got to be kidding me. This is what they are having me fight? Animals on steroids?'_ She groaned and face-palmed, _'Alright, let's get this over with.'_

The hyenas and bear weren't even paying attention to her. They snarling at one another over who got to eat Man-Bat's corpse. Their silent argument was cut short, however, when Subject 3 came crashing down on top of the bear, her claws digging into the brain, her body breaking the spine. Death was instant.

The hyenas jumped back, but it wasn't enough to protect them. S-3's tail whipped out, the barb piercing the left-most hyena through the side…then the segments extended faster than a bullet, ripping through the hearts of three more hyenas. The fifth was fast enough to back up, but the top of the barb, the blade, sliced the underside of the hyena's jaw. It wasn't enough to separate the jaw, but it was enough to cause hemorrhaging. The hyena whimpered before turning tail and sprinting away.

S-3 removed her tail from the shish-kebab she just made. The last hyena was trying to run away from her. How laughable. She streaked across the floor, reaching the hyena in less than three seconds. She leapt into the air…pouncing on the quadrupeds back. They tumbled across the floor, the change momentum carrying them to the side of Mammomax's body. The hyena struggled…before the hybrid's jaws ripped out his throat.

" _My word! Did you have to be so violent with your pets, S-3? See, this is why you can't have nice things. You always break them. Now I won't get you that puppy you so desperately wanted."_

The demigoddess growled. This bitch was really getting annoying. Her attention was diverted, however, when the remaining _six_ doors opened, revealing a mixing-pot of creatures.

" _We've grown tired of watching you slaughter each experiment one by one, so we've decided to add some sugar to your spice, so we can make everything nice,"_ Subject 3 shivered in disgust, _"Have fun darling."_

S-3 looked at creatures coming at her on all sides.

 _This was going to be_ _fun._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The eldest son of Kronos, Hades, God of the Underworld, sat on his throne within palace, his eyes closed in deep thought.

He had personally seen to it that his brother's lover, Sally Jackson, and her family, were given the best accommodations Elysium had to offer. However, despite the happiness that she felt over finally having everything she ever wanted, she was distraught about not being with her son. She was even more devastated when she learned that her son was missing…and they had been unsuccessful in finding him for _six years._

Heh. Gods that couldn't find a demigod. They were losing their touch.

But the past wasn't what had the Lord of the Underworld so deep in thought. It was the sudden influx of souls that entered his domain. Now, that wasn't so shocking, hundreds of souls entered the Underworld every minute from all over the world. Infants, elderly, the sick, soldiers…but Hades knew were all of those came from. He was well aware of the wars and plagues that were spread over the globe, so he knew were the soles were coming from.

But the twelve that just entered the Asphodel Fields…were unlike anything he had ever seen.

It begged the question...

… _what killed them?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Yes. I brought over characters from other universes. Does that mean that those universes exist in this one? No. This was just for fun. Will there be more cameos? Maybe. Depends on feedback.**_

 _ **Speaking of feedback…Favorite, Follow, and don't forget to leave a Review on what you thought of the chapter!**_


	5. Physical Capailities

_Physical Capabilities_

 _ **Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to chapter five of Xenomorphic.**_

 _ **This chapter will detail just how strong Percy is.**_

 _ **Now then, to address my patrons:**_

 _ **UnwantedNox-**_ _No, not at all._

 _ **adipose1913-**_ _She'll function. It won't be pretty, but she'll function. Thanks for the compliments. For you to say that to a new writer like myself…it's flattering._

 _ **Xenomorph story lover-**_ _That was just random words._

 _ **Guest #1-**_ _That is a well thought out plan, and I thank you for the idea, but for what I have in mind…it wouldn't work. But rest assured…there will be Xenomorphs, and there will be angry gods._

 _ **Guest #2-**_ _S-3 will have a reputation, definitely. When she gets out, it will be beautiful._

 _ **Dante Fernandez-**_ _Yes, no, you're currently reading it._

 _ **BBWulf-**_ _There are plenty of other stories out there where Percy is completely different than canon. Suck it up and deal with it man, no need to flame me for it._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Fates were not happy.

Granted, they haven't been particularly _happy_ since World War II when the Big Three children turned Europe into a giant graveyard. That had been a nightmare for the Underworld. They had _almost_ lifted the Ancient Laws that prevented the gods from interfering with the mortal world.

But what they weren't happy about right now was that despite being able to decide the fate of mortals, they couldn't control them directly. That power lied with a far more ancient deity. As such, they could only watch as the Child of Prophecy was kidnapped by mortals and then ruthlessly experimented on, becoming a sadistic killing machine.

But that was also an opportunity.

With the mortals twisting his DNA, they unintentionally gave him more power than any demigod on the face of the planet, whether they be Greek, Roman, Egyptian or Norse. Now it was all a matter of keeping the _girl_ from losing herself to her Xenomorphic instincts. Easier said than done, with the mortals constantly pitting her against other creatures that forced her to become animalistic to survive.

Yes, they knew what Xenomorphs were. They were there when the Hunters brought them to their planet. They had also seen what the parasitic species would do to the universe.

With her new power, she would easily be able to handle just everything that would come her way in the next ten years. But she needed to learn control, how to use it, without losing herself in a blood-bath. That's why they told her to wait instead of immediately escaping.

But they had miscalculated what would to happen to the mortals that she slayed. They had appeared in the Asphodel Fields, alerting Hades to their presence and their appearance. Now the Underworld King had sent Thanatos to investigate what was killing these things.

It wouldn't be good if Percy was revealed to the Grecian world too soon. As she was now…she would slaughter the demigods just to assert her position as alpha.

That would be detrimental to the plans they had spent the last 50 years making.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _5 Days after the Death Matches_

Subject 3 couldn't stop the wave of annoyance that racked her body. After she finally got to stretch her tail and test her power, that bitch of a human gassed the entire arena with that same knockout gas as before-she was still trying to understand why the hell that stuff worked on her-and stuck her in this glorified cube.

50 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 50 feet tall. The walls were dull white, and there _used_ to be a number of lights on the ceiling. Yeah, she destroyed those. Now the cube was shrouded in darkness. Not that that impaired her vision any.

She missed her fights. But she wasn't retarded either. She knew the exact reason why they had her fighting all of those creatures. They were trying to get her to play her hand, disclose all of her powers.

As it was, she had shown her super strength, speed, agility, and reflexes. The white-coats also knew she had a sharp tail, sharp teeth, sharp claws, and a sharp mind. They suspected she had telepathy and acidic blood, but they had yet to prove anything.

She berated herself for showing them she could excrete acid from her claws. That was a lapse of judgement that she would _make sure_ she would never have again. Damn pride.

Her attention was drawn to the gas that was flooding in through the vents on the ceiling. Great, this gas again. Of course she had been aware of the vents on the ceiling. She found them when she destroyed the lights. They were too small for her to fit through but she wasn't really trying to escape through the vents.

Anyway…into the blissful realm of unconsciousness she went.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When she came to, she was in a…rather provocative position. Granted she was only a few days old so whoever put her like this had some serious issues. Currently, she was trapped in a ring-like machine, her hands and feet cuffed in a spread-eagle position, her tail was held in place by clamps that extended from the back of the giant ring. If she was a normal girl, she would be screaming at the fact she was exposed to anyone who was looking.

But she wasn't a normal girl, like, at all.

Regardless, she was in the middle of a room, on display for Groves, the Director, and Batchelder who were on the other side of an observation window. And…a Beretta M9 that was mounted on a machine…pointed at her stomach…five meters away.

"Good morning, S-3, how are you today?" Said experiment hissed in response. "Now, now. No need for hostility. I was only asking how you were." The Director had to be the most insufferable person she had ever met in her few weeks of life. "Then again. Can you even speak? Or is it simply too hard for you to do so?" Another hiss through clenched fangs.

"Any-who. It's time for today's tests."

The machine began to squeeze the trigger of the nine millimeter, bullets streaking through the 10 meter distance between it and its target: S-3. The bullets impacted her body…and ricocheted off her exoskeleton. It felt like someone was throwing marshmallows at her.

The machine emptied the gun's magazine, smoke curling from the barrel. "Well, it appears that nine millimeter bullets have no effect on you." The machine dropped into the floor out of sight, then rose back out of the ground with a new gun. A Colt Python .357. "Now let's see how you handle these babies." She sounded all too cheerful.

Once more, the bullets were fired point-blank into her stomach, and once more…they merely bounced off her body. They felt harder than sugar globs, but not by much. After the revolver was empty, it back into the ground and came back up with a hunting rifle.

"If you haven't figured it out yet, we're testing just how durable your body is." The Director grinned, "We're gonna keep upping the caliber until we either run out of guns…or we bust open your insides like piñata and see what kind of goodies fall out!" She cackled with insane glee.

Subject 3 groaned. While she was also curious as to how much punishment she could take, she really didn't feel like her acid sacs being ruptured and spilled all over the floor. She didn't think she needed her blood to survive, seeing as she didn't breath nor did she eat, but it was something she didn't want to test in this environment.

But this was also an opportunity to test out her telepathy.

Ignoring the rounds being shot into her body, despite the slight pressure she felt, she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, trying to dig into the heads of the three in front of her. She felt a… _hazy_ feeling in her head as she reached out. Then…she felt it.

She didn't how to best describe what she was feeling, but it felt like she was gripping something. What she saw, however, was completely different than physical. She saw flashes of light, blurry figures, rushed sounds, and the smell of chemicals…and dead bodies.

She was ripped from who's ever brain that was when there was a massive flash of red and an agonized yelp. Her eyes shot open and she saw Groves on the floor writhing in pain, his hands gripping his head.

So…she had brushed the surface thoughts of Doctor Groves and left him in what might evolve into a vegetative state. Right then. It appeared she could neutralize people by touching their minds. While that was good, she wanted to make it to where she could read their thoughts like a book, and, if possible, _influence them._

It wouldn't do if every time she touched someone's mind they went catatonic.

It could also prove as way of communication beyond her hissing, growling, and screeching. She had tried to form human words, but her vocal cords couldn't form the proper consonants or vowels. Whatever.

Human speech was beneath her anyway.

Back to the present, her senses picked up several more humans approaching, no doubt medical personnel coming to pick up the old meat-sack. A few seconds later-she had a wide sensor range-people in white garb came rushing in the the observation room, immediately putting him on a stretcher and taking him out.

S-3 watched in silence, using her senses to follow them until they were out of her range. She would have to work on expanding that. "Now that was very rude." The demigoddess slowly trained her eyes on the Director. "If he doesn't survive this Subject 3…" Her voice was uncharacteristically serious, "…I'll have to bend you over my knee and spank you till you're crying!" Nevermind then. We're back to the usual taunting stupidity revolving around some one-sided mother-daughter relationship.

The machine went down…and came up with a Spas-12. 12 gauge shotgun shells. Lovely. A weapon like that might actually do some damage. Then again…maybe not.

"Let's see what a combat shotgun will do to you." The weapon was fired, a hail of high-speed lead balls tearing through the air. While they weren't as painless as the nine millimeter, the .357, or the hunting shells, they did little more than annoy her. Still, it was an uncomfortable experience. "That was impressive. Not even a shotgun was enough to hurt you. But," The machine dropped down and popped back up with an M4A1, "I think this one will be more effective."

Subject 3 felt caution worm its way into her mind. This was a full auto assault rifle. While the rounds weren't as powerful as a shotgun, they were faster and far more repetitive.

It would hit the same area multiple times.

The Director pressed a button, the machine squeezing the trigger once more…fire erupting from the barrel. The rounds impacted her stomach, each one hitting in almost the same exact spot. It felt like she was being poked with the shaft of a broom, actually. Not exactly painful, but more vexing than anything.

Damn. She was bullet proof.

The clip was emptied, and the Director commented, "Damn. It looks you're bullet proof." She pressed a button, the machine repeating the same process, only this time it came up with a _big gun._ "Since it seems you are invulnerable to conventional weapons, I've decided to skip the others and go straight to the cannon. Bitches love cannons." S-3 stared down the barrel of a Barrett .50 Caliber sniper rifle.

Six feet of steel, ten round box-clip magazine, muzzle velocity of 2,799 ft./s, and an effective range of 1,969 yards…she was currently suspended five meters away from it.

The Director grinned at the almost startled expression on Subject 3's face, "Looks like you know just how powerful this weapon is. I wonder if it will crack that shell of yours open. Let's find out!" She slammed her hand down on the firing button. The trigger was squeezed, the bullet launched from its casing, soaring out from the muzzle.

An ear-splitting screech shook the School.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _A few hours after the Bullet Test_

Subject 3 was curled into a ball, laying on her side, her tail concentrically wrapped around her body.

Her arms clutched her stomach, which was throbbing from taking so many high-speed velocity and caliber rounds to the same spot. The bullets may not have broken her exoskeleton, but they had left some damage to her midsection. It had felt like someone was ramming a molten steel-beam into her stomach…repeatedly. She had almost thrown-up at one point, but she held her acid down.

It wouldn't do to reveal that tid-bit of information to these meat-bags.

Subject 3 knew the real reason they were shooting her. They weren't doing it to see what she had for blood, they doing it so they knew what type of weapon they needed to keep her in-line. After the Barret failed to yield any promising results (other than they hurt like a bitch), the Director brought out an anti-tank rifle.

Luckily Jeb Batchelder was there to talk the deranged woman out of using _that._ There was something about that man…something that she could use to her advantage.

After that near-fiasco, the Director had gassed the room and S-3 had awoken to find herself back in her pitch-black cell. Good. She liked darkness. It was comforting. And it beat having to be put on display and experimented on like a rat.

She picked up five signals heading her way, the pheromones surrounding them a deep red. A few minutes later they opened up her cell-door, light flooding the space, annoying the piss out of Subject 3.

She _so_ wanted to kill them right now, but looking at what the men were carrying and decked out in made her think just a little more. Five men, all dressed in heavy body armor, with helmets covering their heads, each packing a-surprisingly-Barret .50 Caliber. Oh, goody.

"Come with us," the front one spoke, his voice altered by his helmet, "Boss Lady wants to see you in the gym. Failure to comply will result in you being shot until you move. Resistance is futile." Subject 3 was sorely tempted to take her chances with these shmucks, and see how easy it was to hit was to hit her when she wasn't suspended and unable to move.

' _No, child. Go with them. This is a chance for you to test the limits of your physical capability.'_ New energy filled Subject 3's body at the sound of the Queens…at the sound of her mothers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The walk was a short, silent, and brusque one. She walked in front of the men, Erasers no doubt, with her tail wrapped around her waist. The barrels of their snipers mere inches from her back. It was so tempting to let her tail loose and cute them all in half, but the Queens had spoken.

She would endure these next trials, no matter what they were.

During this short walk she tested her telepathy again. It was more successful than what she pulled with Groves. Instead of sending them into a coma, she lightly picked at their surface thoughts. Images of a large, open space, filled her mind. A track, a bunch of weights, and a boxing ring stood out to her.

They were taking her to a gym. They were testing her strength and speed.

They entered through the door and Subject 3 was hit with a wave of déjà vu. Strange, she had never been in here before…right? Anyway, the group of six walked over to a rack that was surrounded by white-coats.

Interesting. The Director wasn't there to offer her usual taunts. Then again…there was a PA system. She could sense the electricity running through the wires above her into the megaphones.

Speaking of sensing electricity, there were six more white-coats at the rack she was being led to. She only recognized Jeb. The others were nothing but faces…faces she would remember forever because ever since she was born a few days ago, she could perfectly recall everything she had done in that time frame.

She had a photographic memory.

"Hello Subject 3," Jeb spoke, "today we'll be testing your physical strength and endurance. Please step into the rack." She looked at what had been set to the bar. Five 45 pound plates had been added. 495 pounds in total. She did as Jeb instructed, curious as to what he wanted her to do. Instead of waiting for him to speak, she used her telepathy.

She brushed against his thoughts, lightly touching. She didn't want him flipping out if something happened. She sifted through images and sounds, looking for any indication of what he wanted. She saw some interesting stuff though.

Maximum Ride? Strange name.

Oh, he wanted her to do squats with this. So you hold the wait across your shoulder blades and bend your legs? Easy enough, especially since she had dorsal tubes that acted as the perfect rests for the bar. She positioned herself correctly, then lifted off. She barely felt any added wait to her body. Jeb's eyes widened, he hadn't told her what she was supposed to do with the weight. He didn't even tell her how to squat properly. And here she was…almost _jumping_ off the floor with the amount of weight she was doing.

Her maximum weight had to at least be over 800 pounds.

"Stop," Subject 3 looked over at Jeb, "You can rack it now." Without any hesitation she slammed the weight back onto the racks. The entire rack itself trembled under the force. Jeb looked at the armored Erasers standing off to the side, their guns strapped to their backs, "Put on three more plates." The command was followed swiftly.

S-3 looked at the weight that now was a grand total of 765 pounds. There were grown men that couldn't do this. She went in, lifted it off the rack, hissed in annoyance, _heaved_ the weight over her head and re-racked it. She whipped her head towards Jeb and sent a mental command at him.

 _More!_

Jeb grabbed his head in shock and mild discomfort. It wasn't every day that you heard someone scream at you in your mind for more…that's what she said. Anyway, the head white-coat's gaze met the reptilian one of the experiment, an inferno of command boring into his.

It was at this moment that Jeb Batchelder realized that Perseus Jackson could use her mind to communicate with others.

That was going to help with future events.

Squaring his jaw, Jeb gave the command for the Erasers to put on even more weight on the bar. They took off all of the 45's, replacing them with hundred-pound plates. When they were done, the total weight on the 45-pound steel bar was an even 1,045 pounds. That was a weight that Olympic-level athletes struggled to lift. And this six-year-old girl was more than likely about to do a warm-up with it.

True to his hypothesis, S-3 barely struggled with the extra half-ton of mass added to her body. The light reflected off of Jeb's glasses, shielding his eyes from sight, but the other scientists couldn't keep the gob smacked expressions off their faces. Idiots.

They needed better emotional control.

S-3 racked her weight, and Jeb spoke up, "Since we're here to discover the maximum amount of weight you can lift, do you have any suggestions as to what your limit is?" The girl looked thoughtful for a moment, then she looked at Jeb. She stared into his eyes, trying to passively communicate with him.

The other time was because she was frustrated with the lack of a challenge. This time she had to concentrate to telepathically send her message. After a few seconds…her message broke through.

 _2,045._

Jeb kept his stony expression. "Add five more hundreds to each side."

The Erasers hesitated for just a second, but Subject 3's head slowly turned toward them, a message clear in her eyes. _Put the weight on or you become my dinner._ Granted it was unknown whether or not she actually had to eat.

The good doctors had yet to actually give any food.

A few seconds later, her desired weight was presented to her. She got underneath the bar and lifted it off, the steel rod bending under the weight of a literal ton. Over a ton actually.

S-3 frowned as she registered the weight on her shoulders. It was moderately heavier than the previous weight, but it was _still_ not heavy enough to be considered a challenge. Like, if someone's max was 345, then this was 285. Not quite as heavy, yet not light either.

Still, she did a few reps with it, the bar bending terribly. She felt one of the white-coats faint next to her. After a solid eight, full, up-and-down repetitions, she racked the bar. Disappointment swam through her acidic veins. Did they have enough weight to put on the bar for her to actually strain?

"As it seems that one ton is still not enough for you, we'll mark you down for 2,000+ and resume squat testing at a later date. Now on to bench press." Jeb led the party of twelve over to another rack, this one set up for bench press. Instead of going through the monotonous process of trying to find a proper weight, Subject 3 skipped straight to 495 pounds of metal.

She almost threw herself off the bench pressing it up.

Oh, goddammit.

Once more, she found herself throwing a massive amount of weight on the bar, this time it being 795 pounds. She still barely even registered the added 300 pounds. This time she wanted 1,110 pounds on it, ten pounds heavier than the world record. It was only slightly heavier this time. However, she was still able to rep it out 10 times without assistance.

In one desperate attempt by the white-coats to actually find a max bench-press, they threw 1,300 pounds on the bar. S-3 lifted it off the rack, the bar bending as it did with her squat weight. Half of a ton would do that to a shaft of steel. Regardless of the bar's status, the demigoddess _still_ had no trouble with it. The white-coats marked it down as 'inconclusive.'

"Now we'll move on to the cardiac tests." Jeb, once more, led the party of twelve to the starting point of the track. Subject 3 felt a disturbing amount of 'I've-done-this-before-syndrome.'

"We're going to test your 100, 200, 300, and your 400 meter times. Simply sprint the oriented distance as fast as you can. We'll measure how fast you ran." All of this felt familiar on a disturbing level. Jeb produced a starting pistol from within his coat. S-3 took a stance at the starting line, intent on finishing these tests ASAP.

Jeb pulled the trigger, a loud pop resonating through the gym.

Subject 3 took off with enough force to crack the ground beneath her. In less than two seconds the white-coats at the other end of the hundred meters were pressing their stopwatches. The girl was little more than a neutron blur. The scientists, Jeb included, gaped at her speed.

She smirked, superiority blooming throughout her body.

Subject 3 ran the 200 meter in 2.21 seconds, the 300 in 2.74 seconds, and the 400 in 3.11 seconds. All the while the scientists gaped in shock at the speed of the Xenomorph hybrid. None of their experiments could run that fast. The funny thing is: _she wasn't even going at full speed._ Not that the scientists knew that. They thought she was booking it. Which is also why they were extremely confused as to why the girl wasn't even breathing heavy.

She had to breathe right?

 _Right?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 blinked in confusion. The hell was this guy?

After they were done testing, the Erasers took her back to her blacked-out cell, the white-coats walking off with awed and distant looks on their faces. Jeb told her to be prepared for anything. S-3 knew he was planning something, but she couldn't get past his surface thoughts without rendering him comatose.

That wouldn't be good.

So she sat here in her personal oversized box, practicing her pheromone sensing, electro-location, and her telepathy on anybody that got in range. That's when someone just popped in to her room. They didn't walk through the door, enter through some hidden hatch, they just…appeared in her room. Her senses went haywire from the sudden change to the atmosphere around her. That's when she took in the appearance of the stranger, even in the pitch-black darkness.

Skin, eyes, and hair almost as dark as hers, and well-built with toned but firm muscles. The stranger was male and clothed in some type of…dress…that had a bronze belt around his waist. The most conspicuous thing was the ebony wings folded against his back.

If not for the cold, unnatural aura that this man emanated, and the way he popped out of thin air, and his weird clothing, she would have assumed that this was another experiment in this facility.

The man black man stared at her, his dark eyes wide as saucers. He was looking at her in the same way a geologist looked at a pile of diamonds. It was really pissing her off. It was really triggering her inborn aggression. Then he vanished.

It was just… _what?!_ One second she was contemplating spearing the black angel, the next one the man was gone.

She stretched out her senses as far as they would go, searching for the signal the man emanated. Nothing. Not a trace. Well then.

 _The hell was that guy?!_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Well guys that was it. The fifth chapter of Xenomorphic.**_

 _ **Quick recap: Percy can withstand .50 caliber sniper rifles, squat more than a ton, and bench more than a half-ton with ease. She can also run faster than any animal on the face of the planet.**_

 _ **Follow, Favorite, and Review, please! Your feedback is welcome and appreciated.**_


	6. Recap

_Recap_

 _ **Hello! Hello! Hello!**_

 _ **Welcome to the sixth installment of Xenomorphic. All reviews that had questions have been answered via PM.**_

 _ **It should be observed by all those who are reading this: as this is chapter six of this story, it will be put on a temporary hiatus while I begin working on Backup Plan again.**_

 _ **I apologize if this upsets people but two months of inactivity for a story that I'm writing will not be tolerated.**_

 _ **It took a lot of deliberation for the direction I wanted to go for this chapter, but here it is!**_

 _ **I do not own AVP, Percy Jackson, or any other references in this work of fiction.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hades was furious.

Actually, no. He was furious when Adolf and Stalin ripped the Asphodel Fields a new asshole. What he was feeling now, however, could not be described with words…in any known language.

The God of the Underworld had just been informed by his Lieutenant, Thanatos, that his nephew- _niece,_ it appeared-was being held in some twisted, mortal science facility, and was being forced to slaughter people after undergoing twisted experiments that looked to be more suited for something found in the Fields of Punishment.

Hades summoned his Helm, holstered his Sword, and equipped his staff, ready to storm this place and put the fear of a god in their hearts-since he wasn't going to let any demigod child, let alone his own nephew/niece, be a lab rat for humans-when the Fates popped into his throne room.

" _What?"_ His voice was whisper, but it held more steel than a military base. The Daughters of Ananke had the decency to look nervous. "We said you can't rescue Poseidon's child yet." Hades glowered at them, his Helm of Darkness enhancing its power, "And why, pray-tell, can I not go save my niece?"

"Because," Clotho spoke, "If you rescued her as she is now, she would go on a murderous rampage."

"Her mind is fragile, she believes the best way to survive is to remove all threats to herself…violently," Lachesis whispered.

"If she was thrust into Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter, the demigods there would unintentionally provoke her, and she would annihilate them. It would be a blood-bath," Atropos finished.

Clotho restarted the cycle, "That would be instrumental in the defeat of the Olympians at the hands of your father."

"Something we are desperately trying to avoid by biding our time, teaching her restraint, and caution."

"Yes, Hades, Kronos is rising, you've felt it as well." The Dark God kept silent, but his eyes told them the truth. Clotho picked up where Atropos left off, "Thanks to the unpredictable nature of the mortals, the Child of Prophecy, Perseus Jackson had been forever changed. Now he has become 'Subject 3', a genetic hybrid with unparalleled survival instincts and ruthlessness. The lives of others mean nothing to her as long as it means she lives."

Hades grit his teeth at the Fates' description of Poseidon's daughter, his own niece, before he picked up on something, "Genetic… _hybrid?_ What did they do to my _family?!"_ The shadows began to writhe in agitation, the walls began to shake, the Underworld trembling under the power of its Master. The Fates shared a look, silently weighing the decision before them. To tell, or not to tell. "If you don't answer me within the next nanosecond, I'll personally throw all of you into Tartarus."

To tell it was then.

"After augmenting his body to superhuman levels, they spliced him with the DNA of Linguafoeda acheronsis."

Hades blinked. That was a scientific term he hadn't heard of in a long time. Then the creature that held that title came to mind. "Oh." The full gravity of the situation crashed on to his shoulders. "The mortals injected Poseidon's child with the DNA of the most dangerous creature since the dinosaurs?"

Atropos nodded, "That's the reason your nephew became your niece."

"So then…Perseus has become a hybrid between a Big Three demigod, and a remorseless creature brought to this planet by a species that Artemis probably has wet dreams over?"

A trio of 'yes' was his answer.

"And my father is on the rise, therefore the Great Prophecy you issued 50 years ago is beginning to play itself out?"

A trio of nods.

"And because of the mortals, the Child of Prophecy, the _daughter_ of Poseidon, has become more of a monster than what is in Tartarus, and you're trying to control her to make sure she doesn't slaughter the Greek and Roman population?"

The Fates neglected to mention they were doing something similar in another dimension.

Hades felt his response was appropriate, "Fuck all of you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Four years later, 2003_

 _The School_

 _Subject 3's cell_

It had been an eventful past four years. She had grown taller, her tail longer, and her dorsal tubes bigger.

The white-coats had finally made machines that could accurately measure her strength. Her max squat was exactly 6,000 pounds. Her max bench was 5,200 pounds. Her fastest clocked speed was 210 miles per hour. They had also discovered she was faster when she ran quadruped-style, with a max speed of 258 miles per hour. She was faster and stronger than almost any machine of the current age. She could also shrug off munitions capable of busting open tanks.

Good God that had been one hell of a mess.

And the scariest thing? She was mapped to only get stronger.

But while she improved her physical attributes, her mental, stealth, combat ones soared. Her telepathy improved to the point that she could effortlessly and covertly dig through a person's mind, learning everything about them and how to do certain things. However, she still could not fully control others yet. While she had, on occasion, whispered suggestions in a person's subconscious to make them to do something, she had yet to manage to make them truly submit to her will. Actually, more times than not, her target merely got a dazed look on their face and stared blankly ahead before continuing on with whatever task they were previously engaged with like nothing had ever happened.

She had gotten so frustrated one time that she made one woman's head explode. Unfortunately, it wasn't the bitch's head, but it had led the white-coats on an expedition to protect their minds from her mental onslaught. They had yet to actually create a device that worked. S-3 said 'actually' because she let them think they made something that worked. It was more for her amusement than anything. The white-coats had taken to wearing funny looking helmets that had a number of rods emerging from the dome.

It looked like something out of a cheesy sci-fi movie.

They believed their head-protectors kept S-3 out of their minds.

She let them think that. It was funnier that way.

Of course, she could still easily access their heads, but her discretion mean that she could no longer practice her mind control powers. So until she was ready, the Director got to live a little longer. But it was a small price to pay for a bit of amusement and unlimited access to the information floating around the idiots' heads.

By-Half Plan? Mundane.

Itexicon? Retarded.

Re-Evolution? Ridiculous.

Maximum Ride? Strange name.

As for her stealth, she discovered she could change the color of her exoskeleton, giving her the ability of camouflage. She also found out that with a little concentration she could alter her vision to see in the infrared spectrum. It was cool, but rather obsolete when she could see and smell pheromones, as well as sense the electric fields generated by living creatures. The people here had also set up artificial environments filled with obstacles and personnel that she would have to evade and sneak past without getting detected.

She had yet to find herself in any sort of challenge.

Her combat abilities had stayed the same, but her opponents had changed. As it turned out, this place did more than just mix and max DNA strands, they were also in the business of creating 'super-steroids', as the white-coats put it. They created a bunch of chemicals that greatly altered the muscular and skeletal structures of the recipient. So far she had fought people hyped up on Venom (which was easiest because all she had to do was sever their delivery tubes), Titan (turned people into giant, hulking masses with their spines splitting through their backs, but with the intelligence of a rabid animal), and TN-1(a more extreme version of Venom that made a person's muscles swell to the size of baby elephants).

She killed all of them with the same efficiency that she used in the Death Matches all those years ago.

Subject 3 cancelled her recollection when she registered the scents and the minds of her 'vanguard,' as she called the five armored Erasers that escorted her around the facility. Reading their minds was easy; they had been ordered by the head bitch to bring her to a different room.

Interesting. They hadn't been told why.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Twelve year old Maximum Ride was currently jammed into her dog crate with the rest of her Flock. It had grown larger since she met that boy four years ago. Fang and Iggy were the same age as her, Nudge was nine, and Gazzy and Angel-her newest siblings- were six and four respectively.

As per the custom of the bane of her existence, the door to her cell was thrown open and a procession of mutts waltzed in, shirtless, ripped, and packing some serious heat…with their funny helmets on. She once asked an Eraser why they started to wear those funny things. She was hit with the butt of an M4 in response. She hadn't asked many questions since then.

She perked up though when her father-figure, the one person she could trust in this god-forsaken hell hole, Jeb walked in after the Erasers…looking like he had just survived a fight with a ghost. His skin was pale and covered in sweat, his hair was a mess, his hands shook and his breathing was ragged.

He almost stumbled over to her crate, and looked at Max with wild eyes, "T-there ins-s-sane! They w-w-want you and t-the F-flock to fight _her_." The Flock was deeply confused. What had Jeb spooked? Who was 'they'? Why was 'her' emphasized?

It was Nudge that asked the important question, "Jeb…what's going on?" One of the Erasers burst out laughing. The rest of his companions exchanged psychotic smirks. "The higher-ups are pitting you against the most dangerous freak in the School. Her name is Subject 3. She's racked up the highest body count in this place." At the growing looks of horror on the bird kids faces', the Eraser continued, "She kills without discrimination. She doesn't hesitate, feel any remorse, or question who she _slaughters._ I heard you asked why we started to wear these dumbass helmets," his grin was filled with fangs, "It's so she doesn't make our heads explode."

"How would she make your head explode?" Angel asked quietly.

"That's the craziest thing, freak. Somehow…someway…Subject 3 developed advanced telepathical powers. She was experimenting with them, unknown to us, but she got too far into someone's head and, somehow, _made it explode_. God…that had been one hell of a mess."

The horror written upon the faces of the freaks and the Doc would forever be ingrained in the memory of the Erasers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Erasers marched the Flock down through the halls of the school, grins on their faces. Jeb looked grey and his teeth chattered in worry for his surrogate sons and daughters. Dammit, he should have broken them out of here sooner! With Subject 3's help he was sure they would've succeeded…but something held him back.

Like a voice telling him _not yet._

And now his children were about to fight the most effective killing machine this place had ever cooked up. S-3 was predictable only in that she would kill whatever she was fighting. Other than that, however…

The precession came to a stop outside a hydraulic door. "Listen up freaks. Today, all six of you will be fighting Subject 3. As requested by the Doc over here," the Eraser jabbed a finger at Jeb, "I will give you a rundown of the known abilities of your opponent." His grin was as wolfish as his genetic code.

"First up: she has the strength to throw around several _thousand_ pounds. She can move at over 200 miles per hour and turn on a dime. She has exoskeletal skin capable of taking on tank rounds, and changing color to match her environment. She has claws capable of slicing steel to shreds and dripping molecular acid strong enough to melt people into a puddle of goo. She has a bladed tail over ten feet long capable of 360 degree movement and piercing bodies like they're made of wet paper. There is an adhesive chemical on the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet capable of sticking to any solid surface. Last, but not least, she has telepathic powers that include mind reading and brain-exploding.

"Unfortunately for you, we don't have head-protectors made in your size, so you just have to pray she doesn't want to kill you quickly and messily." The Erasers cackled as they strolled back down the hallway, leaving Jeb with the Flock.

All the while, during the rundown, the Flock's horror grew and grew, reaching a pinnacle with the echoing laughter of the lupus-hybrids. "Subject 3…she isn't going to kill us…is she?" Gazzy asked. Jeb was silent for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. He came to decision, "The purpose of this test isn't to see if you can defeat Subject 3, it's to see if you can _survive_ her. So far, all of her opponents have been ground-based and one-on-one. The higher ups want to see what she'll do against a _team,_ " he looked at the group of avian hybrids, "that can fly." He smiled at them reassuringly, "The room in front of you has been specially modified to compliment your air-superiority. And, after ten minutes, they'll flood the room with gas that will put all of you asleep." The Flock looked a great deal more confident now.

They didn't have to fight, they just had to last long enough to live.

The avian hybrids swarmed Jeb in a group in a hug, nearly breaking his bones with their enhanced strength. They separated after a few minutes. "Jeb," Max said. The white coat looked at her, "You look really funny in that hat." Jeb's gob smacked expression made the ever-stoic Fang smirk just a bit, the Flock giggle, and Iggy wonder what everyone was laughing about.

The hydraulic door opened up behind them, revealing a room bathed in darkness. The Flock shared one last hug with their father…before entering the abyss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeb wasn't a religious man, not by a long shot. He was a firm believer in science, after all. But, after sending his surrogate children in to a metaphoric hell, he found himself praying to every deity he had ever heard about that the Flock would come out alive. He did wonder though…four years ago the boy that was Subject 3 snapped the neck of an Eraser in front these kids.

 _Would they recognize eachother?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **It's the dreaded cliffhanger!**_

 _ **The tool that authors use to keep their readers on the edge of their seats and coming back for more.**_

 _ **Unfortunately for the poor saps reading this, the next chapter of Xenomorphic won't be out for a while. I'm going to be spending the next few weeks working on Backup Plan.**_

 _ **Let me know what you thought of this chapter in the review section.**_

 _ **AND HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!**_


	7. Alien vs the Flock

_Alien vs. the Flock_

 _ **Over a month since the last update…well, I've been busy. New chapters of Backup Plan and a new story called Leviathan are up. Go read them.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own AVP, PJO, or MR**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _All the while, during the rundown, the Flock's horror grew and grew, reaching a pinnacle with the echoing laughter of the lupus-hybrids. "Subject 3…she isn't going to kill us…is she?" Gazzy asked. Jeb was silent for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. He came to decision, "The purpose of this test isn't to see if you can defeat Subject 3, it's to see if you can survive her. So far, all of her opponents have been ground-based and one-on-one. The higher ups want to see what she'll do against a team," he looked at the group of avian hybrids, "that can fly." He smiled at them reassuringly, "The room in front of you has been specially modified to compliment your air-superiority. And, after ten minutes, they'll flood the room with gas that will put all of you asleep." The Flock looked a great deal more confident now._

 _They didn't have to fight, they just had to last long enough to_ _live._

 _The avian hybrids swarmed Jeb in a group in a hug, nearly breaking his bones with their enhanced strength. They separated after a few minutes. "Jeb," Max said. The white coat looked at her, "You look really funny in that hat." Jeb's gob smacked expression made the ever-stoic Fang smirk just a bit, the Flock giggle, and Iggy wonder what everyone was laughing about._

 _The hydraulic door opened up behind them, revealing a room bathed in darkness. The Flock shared one last hug with their father…before entering the abyss._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Flock entered the pitch-black room, and the door closed behind them. It felt like they were just sealed inside of their tomb. Max gulped when she looked around.

You know that feeling you get after watching a horror movie? The one where you constantly look around a dark room, making sure there isn't _something_ in there with you? Yeah, that's how the bird kids felt.

Except, instead of them being fearful that there _might_ be something in there with them, they _knew_ there was something in there with them.

Subject 3. The ruthless experiment that made even the Erasers tremble in fear. And she was currently somewhere in this hell of a room with them.

It was a _terrifying_ thought.

The Flock had superior vision. They could all read the bottom line of the exam chart from over a mile away. Their vision was only slightly worse in the dark. But this room…it was created using the furthest depths of space.

From they could make out, the ceiling was domed and at least 200 feet off the ground. From the ceiling, hanging by chains were several acrobatic bars big enough for them to light on. It front of them, on the ground, were over a hundred six-foot-tall pylons that were arranged like the stars on the American flag.

Max looked at her flock. Angel and Gazzy were clinging to each other, Nudge was biting her finger, her eyes darting around. Iggy was staring off into space, his blank eyes looking at nothing, but Max knew he was straining his ears to the maximum, trying to hear any movement. Fang was gritting his teeth, his eyes sliding back and forth. That was the most emotion she had ever seen out of him.

"Iggy," Max whispered as quietly as she could, "Can you hear anything?"

The blind avian was silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing in concentration…then they snapped open panic, "Up!"

Without waiting for an explanation, the Flock snapped their wings out and were airborne in fluid moment. Just in time too, because _something_ impaled the ground where they once stood. The avian hybrids landed on the bars above, the sudden increase in weight making them sway. Max looked around wildly, trying to locate whatever the hell just did that.

 _But she couldn't see anything down there!_

"Iggy! What just happened!?"

The hybrid in question looked just as panicked as his leader, "I don't know! I just heard something moving through the air at high speeds towards us!"

Max grit her teeth and took a calming breath. Just nine more minutes to go, _just nine more minutes!_ It might as well have been nine hours. Then she heard _it._ The sound of a whip moving through the air. Iggy heard it too, but Max was faster, "Down!"

The Flock dive bombed just in time, for the same thing that made them go up in the first place sliced through the chains holding up the bars like a knife through butter. The Flock heard their 'safe zone' plummet to the ground, along with any chance of making it out of here alive. To be honest, Max would have been perfectly fine with waiting on the acrobat bars until the gas kicked in. It was clear that Subject 3 had other ideas.

Lethal ones.

The avian hybrids hovered as high as they could above the pylons below, desperately avoiding the ground and the being lurking down there. The only sound in the giant room was the sound of their wingbeats.

"We can't keep doing this. We need a plan," Fang said quietly.

Max looked at her brother-figure, "And what do you suppose we do? We can barely see anything in here, and the girl that we're stuck with can blend into her environment. And it's really dark in here."

Fang grit his teeth, "Well we can't just keep dodging her tail whenever she swings it as us for the next seven minutes. Hovering like this just makes us targets, and it's clear that Subject 3 can find us in the dark. Jeb said that she hasn't fought a team of airborne opponents before. We can use that to our advantage.

Max was about to retort, when Angel, sweet little Angel, grabbed her head and _shrieked_ in pain. The pain was too much for the youngest member of the Flock, and her wings stopped beating…causing her to plummet to the abyss below.

Gazzy was the first to dive after his little sister, followed by the rest of the bird kids. It was all for naught, however, when a blur of motion slammed into Angel's small body, taking her into the maze of pylons below.

Subject 3 had struck…and she had struck _hard._

Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy landed on top of the pylons, panic written on their faces. The Gasman looked to be on the verge of tears. Fang growled, his wings furling.

"Fang…" Max said slowly, "what are you doing?"

The Flock's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but Fang's pitch-black orbs blended into the background. He looked like he was possessed by a demon.

"I'm going to get Angel back. Feel free to help me, or stay here and wait for the gas to knock us all out."

 _Five minutes._

Max's own eyes hardened, as did the rest of the Flock's. Gazzy wiped away his tears, his face setting itself into a determined expression, "Let's get my sister back."

They were ready to fight…when Angel's scream tore through the silence. The avian hybrids' eyes shot open and they began to leap from pylon to pylon, heading in the direction of the scream. Max's eyes narrowed when she realized they were heading back to the door.

"Gah!"

Max face palmed when Iggy missed a step and fell to the ground. She was surprised that he had gotten as far as he did, considering he was blind. She hopped down to the floor, fully aware of the danger zone she had just entered. Fang, Nudge, and Gazzy hopped down next to her. The six-foot drop was nothing to their enhanced bodies.

Iggy jumped to his feet almost immediately. He looked in the direction that he heard Angel's labored breathing. He knew there were a shit-ton of obstacles between him and her, but he would be damned before he left his little sister to the mercy of that bitch Subject 3!

He heard his siblings land next to him, "Guide me forward. I can hear her." He felt the hands of Max and Fang wrap around his arms, and then they were off once more.

 _3 minutes._

They exited the pylon-maze…and for the first time, they laid eyes upon the horror that is Subject 3.

She was exactly as the Eraser had described her. Her skin was almost indistinguishable from the neutron stars that made up this room; her tail, barely noticeable in the gloom, lazily drifted behind her. Her claws seemed to shine. From her back sprouted four tube-like appendages that served an unknown purpose. Thick strands that weren't normal hair fell down to the girl's shoulders.

Angel writhed on the ground at Subject 3's feet, her hands still tightly clenched against her head. Against all reason and overcome with rage, Gazzy roared and launched himself at the School's top dog. Subject 3 calmly stood where she was.

Gazzy got within three feet of the dangerous girl…then her tail twitched. Angel's big brother was sent flying-no pun intended-into the far off wall, his body slamming into the unforgiving surface. He fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.

 _2 minutes._

Max gave a very unlady-like snarl. Subject 3 didn't even acknowledge her, the experiment's attention glued to Angel. Max looked at her remaining family, "Attack Pattern Alpha."

Iggy's wings snapped out and he soared at Subject 3, Nudge and Fang flew at her from the sides. Max flapped her own wings and took off into the air, aiming to prevent the girl from jumping up. If they weren't so caught up in the moment, they would've remembered that Subject 3 _could read minds._

Attack Pattern Alpha was a move made by Fang early on in the Flock's 'career.' It involved flying at the target from three different directions, causing the target to become confused about which one to fight. In the confusion, they would swarm the target and hold them still. The fourth avian would fly up into the air and deliver a knockout blow to the target when they were restrained. It had worked on many occasions against some strong opponents.

Subject 3 wasn't _strong_. She was _powerful._

Her tail snapped down, slamming into Iggy's back, sending him into the world of dreams. Fang and Nudge, flying too fast to stop, continued on their course. Subject 3's arms shot straight out, grabbing the two by their heads. She promptly slammed them together, a gut wrenching _crack_ disturbing the air. The experiment let them crumble to the ground like the walls of Jericho.

Max gaped in shock at how easily Subject 3 took down her family, and broke up one of their most well-rehearsed techniques like she walking through the halls.

 _90 seconds._

Subject 3 paused, her attention leaving the still-writhing form of Angel. Her twisted ever so slightly, then it went back to facing the front. Max landed on the ground, her mind desperately racing to come up with a plan. Her thinking came to an abrupt halt, however, when Subject 3 raised her bladed tail…the tip pointing at the baby of the Flock.

Four-year-old Angel.

In a manner similar to Gazzy, all rational thought left her mind as she _took off_ at the monster that had whipped her family's asses. She would not let Angel die!

If she had been thinking, she would've realized that she flew over 20 feet in less than a second. And she would've also realized that flying at an entity with spiked, whip-like tail was not a good idea.

Despite her incredible boost in speed, Subject 3's reactions were _much_ faster. Her black body whirled around like a top, backhanding the alpha female and sent her careening into the wall where Gazzy had impacted…and had left a dent. Max only deepened that dent.

 _70 seconds._

Max groaned from her spot on the floor. Without a doubt, she had some broken bones. That had _hurt._ She had been hit by gun butts, Erasers, and strong-men hyped up on steroids. None of those guys had come close to the amount of punishment Subject 3 just dished out… _with a single blow._

Max had never been hit by wrecking ball before, but she imagined it would feel something like that.

 _Tmp. Tmp. Tmp._

The soft sound of feet hitting the floor reached Max's enhanced hearing. The twelve-year-old looked up, dreading what she would see. Subject 3 was slowly stalking her way forward. Even in the darkness, Max could clearly see the approaching figure of Death. It was the first time Max noticed that the girl was naked.

Twin bumps on Subject 3's chest signified the beginning of puberty. Max hated puberty. At twelve years old, the School had been 'kind' enough to supply her with training bras, and a brief rundown on the wonders of the female body. God that had been hell of an awkward conversation.

Max blushed when she saw Subject 3's privates, and averted her attention elsewhere. Unfortunately, her gaze locked onto Gazzy's unconscious body, and her anger returned. She looked back at Subject 3…right into her eyes.

Her _sea-green_ eyes.

Max gasped. There was only one person she knew in her short life that had that shade of green for eyes. A little boy that had Inspired her to become as strong as she is now.

" _Don't lose hope. If you ever find yourself giving up, find something to fight for. It's what keeps me going."_

"Oh my God…what did they do to you?"

Subject 3 paused, her eyes boring into Max's, like they were searching for something. Then Max remembered that she could read minds. _'She's searching my memory…I feel kind of violated.'_

 _20 seconds._

Whatever Subject 3 was looking for, she must have found it.

Her eyes shot wide open…and the room began to rumble. Her knees knocked together, her hands reaching up to grab her head. Foam appeared at her mouth. The room shook even harder as Subject 3's eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her back bent backwards, her knees unknocking themselves. It was like she was having a seizure!

Max shakily stood to her feet, grabbed Gazzy, and drunkenly stumbled over to her Flock. Angel had finally gone still.

The walls began to crack, pieces of the ceiling fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding the avian hybrids. All throughout the School, the vibrations tore through the facility, knocking things over, cracking the foundations, sending scientists clambering to the floor.

Sirens and alarms blared to life.

Max looked over to Subject 3, her back was bending even further, her mouth was practically salivating with foam, and her solid-black eyes stared straight through Max's very _soul._

Then the poor girl screamed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **A bit shorter than other chapters, I will admit. I hope I wrote the fight to most everyone's liking. Next chapter will cover Percy's POV.**_

 _ **Figuring out what the hell is going on right now shouldn't be too hard for you guys, but if you do know, please don't spoil it for others.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and leave lots of reviews for me to read!**_


	8. Alien vs the Flock: Subject 3

_Alien vs. the Flock: Subject 3_

 _ **Hi guys! The next chapter is here!**_

 _ **This one will be from Percy's POV, so some questions will be answered. This chapter will also cover the aftermath and move the story forward.**_

 _ **It the dramatic words of the Joker, "And…here…we…go!"**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 calmly walked into dark room, and the door behind her hissed shut.

The hybrid looked around at her surroundings. It was dark (which was very good), almost too dark for her night vision (which wasn't good.) A brief amount of concentration later and her slit pupils began to glow an eerie red.

Her infrared vision also doubled as way to see better in the dark.

The warped demigoddess frowned. It looked like she had been stuffed into a gigantic grain silo. The roof was domed, chains holding up large bars. In front of her was maze of really tall pylons.

She hummed to herself…then she entered the maze.

A few minutes of lazily walking through the pylons brought our anti-hero to the other side of the maze. Well that was boring. What was the point of bringing her here? Subject 3 highly doubted that they brought her to this place so it could be her new dwelling. That would've been cool though.

Wait…wait a second… _Ah!..._ there was a reason for all of this crap! It so she could fight a group of bird kids hoping that they could beat her with 'teamwork!'

The idea that they thought they had a chance against her was as laughable as the fact that the Director thought that she had any power over her.

The door opened up, light spilling into the silo. S-3 retreated back into the pylon maze, merging with the shadows once more. She watched calmly as the avian hybrids entered the 'danger zone.' S-3 caught a glimpse of Batchelder before the door closed and darkness reigned.

She began to read the kids' minds, picking up their surface thoughts. Predictably, they were terrified. They were also worried that she was going to blow their heads up. That almost made the hybrid snort. When she blew that woman's head it was because she was exceedingly frustrated.

She couldn't just make someone's head explode on a whim.

Not yet.

Despite relishing in the children's fear, S-3 had learned that there was a time limit before the white-coats gassed the room. Ten minutes? Way too long. Deciding to test the water, S-3 attacked with a simple tail-whip. The tall one had some excellent hearing, since he was the one to actually hear the shift in air-currents. Every one of them had superb reflexes since all of them dodged her tail without injury.

That was new.

"Iggy!" shouted the oldest girl, Maximum Ride, "What just happened!?"

' _Iggy? Who names a child 'Iggy'?'_

"I don't know! I just heard something moving through the air at high speeds towards us!"

Oh my, what an astute observation! Note the sarcasm.

If they thought they were safe up there, they were dead wrong. Moving swiftly through the pylons, Subject 3 positioned herself beneath her prey. She whipped her tail up, her beloved appendage slicing through the chains. To her further impress, they all dodged her tail for the second time. The bars, however, came tumbling down into her domain.

Subject 3 idly wondered who would shit themselves if they realized that the being they were trying to avoid was currently 50 feet below them.

Regardless, since it appeared her tail was ineffective at the moment (to be fair, she wasn't going all out), she decided to use a different method. Now then, who to pick off first?

The girl?

The one that's talking?

The one with good ears?

The one that hasn't said a word?

The little boy with gas problems?

Or the youngest one with the…mental barrier?

Okay…that one needed some evaluation. Focusing herself, drowning out the petty bickering above, she assaulted the little one's mind. To her interest, her attack slammed into resistance. Pushing a little harder against the 'wall,' Subject 3 made the girl plummet from her vantage point.

Not exactly what she intended, but she could adapt.

Leaping up, she snagged the falling avian hybrid out of the air, right in front of her family. She then silently streaked through the maze, leaving the rest of the kids behind. S-3 stopped when she reached the door from which the avians had entered.

Time to figure out what was up with the toddler.

Subject 3 once again pushed her mind against the child's, Angel. Once again, she hit a 'wall.' Pushing harder made the girl writhe in pain. It seemed she had inborn telepathic abilities.

Now Subject 3 just wanted to see how much the child could handle.

She withdrew from the girl's mind…then slammed back into it with all the force of a freight train. Angel's scream had without a doubt alerted her family to their position…in fact, they were already on their way here.

Subject 3 stopped her assault a few moments later. Any more and the child's mental state would've snapped. That could've lead to a number of different outcomes. A coma, amnesia, vegetative state, brain damage, and even death were the most prominent. That wouldn't do.

Not because she would feel guilty for killing the ankle-biter, but because it would rob of her of a unique research opportunity.

A telepathic opportunity.

As Angel lay on the ground, her breathing labored and head throbbing in agony, her family finally caught up to their location. S-3 didn't even blink as she batted aside the boy. Stupid child, don't fight people stronger than you.

S-3 kept staring down at the little girl, her mind making plans, not feeling the least bit threatened at Max's snarl. "Attack Pattern Alpha." The demigoddess resisted the urge to face palm. Regardless, she took down the idiot birds with less-than-lethal-prejudice. Their deaths served no purpose at the moment.

Hm.

She tilted her head to the side ever-so-slightly. The alpha female hadn't done anything. Then again, S-3 just took apart one of their best strategies like it was a piece of paper. That had to have been surprising. Still, the hybrid wanted to test her fighting skills. To do that, the older girl would need some… _incentive._

What better incentive was there, than the threatening of family?

Raising her tail above Angel, the tip pointed at the little one's heart, S-3 waited for Max's reaction. She was not disappointed. Well, she wasn't disappointed with how fast Max reacted, in fact she was impressed with her speed. What she _was_ disappointed with was the fact that the girl did the exact same thing the boy did.

Subject 3 completed the cycle of déjà vu.

After sparing one last glance at Angel, S-3 began to calmly stroll over to the dazed avian. The girl looked up when she heard the approaching footsteps. Apparently, Max was going through 'puberty,' and was wearing 'training bras.' Whatever. She also had a problem with seeing another naked female, despite being one herself.

S-3 had never been given any clothes, but she would never lower herself to wearing any human wears.

Any-who. When Max glanced at the fallen form of her little brother, S-3 could tell her anger had returned. Even more-so by the light in her eyes. Then she gasped, a new light appearing in her eyes.

The light of recognition.

"Oh my God," Max whispered, "What did they do to you?"

Without any hesitation, Subject 3 dived into the girl's memories, rifling through them with a fervor she had never had before. How the fuck did this girl know her? Then she found it.

A memory of her… _when she was male!?_

Then something inside of her mind _broke._ Like water flowed through a shattered dam, six years of forgotten memories came crashing together…all at the same time.

Subject 3 didn't know what was happening, but she did know that what was once her stomach felt like it trying to rip through her abdomen. She also knew that she was once a boy, went through genetic augmentations was spliced with pufferfish DNAhadaproceduredoneforinfraredvision andanotherDNAexperimentthathadcausedhertobecome _whatshewasnow!_

Subject 3 was only dimly aware that she had started screaming and the world was shaking.

Then everything ceased to exist.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Fates were scrambling to get their shit together.

In another spell of unpredictable mortal phenomena, Percy just went through and shattering seizure. Now, on top of being mentally unstable, the Child of Prophecy was going to be emotionally unstable. It was hard enough to keep her in the School as it was, now their 'daughter' was about to go through an identity crisis.

One that would involve a lot of blood.

Oh, and she just generated a level 7 earthquake. There wasn't a child of Poseidon in history that had that power, and she was only ten-years-old.

This was going to take a lot of power and Mist to cover up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ten years of no success in finding his son had left Poseidon in a state of unprecedented depression. Not even Amphitrite bringing him into the bedroom was enough to bring life back to the Sea God's eyes. And with Hades' yearly reports of Percy _not_ being in the Underworld, that meant his baby boy was off somewhere in the world… _alone._

It was mindboggling, really. Apollo literally saw everything under the son; Artemis saw everything under the moon and her Hunters were constantly scouring the globe looking for any possible lead; Zeus was constantly watching his skies and Poseidon the seas; Hades had the Underworld constantly monitored; Athena constantly checked and rechecked surveillance videos from _that_ night; Demeter was overlooking every farm and place of agriculture on the planet; Hermes had his postal service working overtime, sending out notices and flyers to _every_ entity in the mythical world; Hephaestus had made drones and automatons that searched every nook and cranny in the world; Ares had pulled his connections in every military on every continent; every god that could contribute to the search was doing so.

And not a trace was to be found.

It was like he had ceased to exist.

It was currently the Winter Solstice and the Olympians were having their annual council meeting, the demigods in attendance. They had been told the story of Perseus Jackson, and were all too eager to help out their parents find the missing boy. Even they had no luck in finding the missing cousin of Thalia Grace.

Poseidon was just about to flash out early and drink himself half to death…when he felt _it._

The familiar sensation of when one of his children called upon his powers. In this case, the power of the Earthshaker. And there was only one person currently alive that could use that power.

Poseidon sat up straight in his fishing chair and gripped his trident, an action that did not go unnoticed by the rest of those in attendance. "Poseidon," Zeus spoke, "Do you have something to add?"

Poseidon's eyes closed in concentration, trying to pinpoint the source of the power, but there was something blocking him. Like a haze that kept him from focusing.

"Poseidon," Zeus said more forcefully.

The Sea God's face scrunched in effort to find the source. He would find his son!

" _Poseidon!"_

Said god's eyes snapped open, his trident held at the throat of the one who would _dare_ to prevent him from finding Percy. Oh, it was Zeus. What did he want?

"Is there something you want, brother?" Poseidon growled.

The King of the Gods was a little shocked at his older brother's hostility. "We noticed that something about you just changed. I've been trying to get your attention."

Poseidon removed his symbol of power from Zeus' throat and regarded the on-edge audience, "I've just felt one of my demigod children call upon my power of earthquakes. As you know, there is only one person that can do that."

Athena's eyes gleamed, "Perseus Jackson."

Poseidon nodded, "However, when I tried to locate the source, something blocked me. I was also distracted by an outside party," He sent a pointed look at Zeus. The Sky God coughed.

"Strange. For something to block a god from finding his own child, it would have to be insanely powerful," said Artemis.

"Agreed. Which is why I ask that all of you help me find my son."

The Olympians and Hestia nodded. No one noticed the look in Hades' eyes, however. He wondered how his brother would react when he discovered young Percy's fate. Hades suspected that the tectonic plates of the Earth were about to be rearranged. He too had a connection to the earth, and had felt the tremors generated by his niece.

He also felt a surge in the number of souls entering the Underworld.

One of the demigods stood up, "What about us, Lord Poseidon? Do you need our help too?"

Poseidon shared a look with Zeus. They reached a silent agreement, "No. The strain of overcoming the barrier may be too much for your bodies to handle. Just sit back and relax," said Poseidon.

With an internal scowl, Luke Castellan sat back down in his chair. A tap on his shoulder brought his attention to his best friend, "Are you alright, Luke?" asked the very-much-alive Thalia Grace. The son of Hermes nodded silently, a dark look in his eyes.

Since the Big Three finally came to an understanding, Hades didn't send any monsters after the trio. No monsters, no heroic sacrifice, no need for a giant pine tree. Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia had been accepted, assimilated, and claimed within Camp Half-Blood.

As for Percy Jackson, Luke had had more dreams of the young _girl's_ life. Watching what the mortals did to a fellow outcast had made his blood boil. What made him even more enraged was the fact the so-called _gods_ couldn't find a lone demigod with all of their unlimited power. Now he was just denied the ultimate chance to help find Percy…he had never felt more insulted in his life.

Little Annabeth was worried for her big brother. Ever since he had _that_ dream, he had become near-obsessed with finding the Son of Poseidon. She couldn't tell what Luke felt for the other demigod, but it scared her. She was especially worried for what Luke would do once he finally met Percy Jackson. With the way he spoke of his dreams about the boy…he sounded almost… _in love._

The thought that her big brother was in love with a person he had never met _deeply_ concerned the daughter of Athena.

The possibility that Luke was gay didn't bother her. There were plenty of homosexual myths surrounding her extensive family.

While those three were having their own little interactions, the Gods of Olympus had clasped hands, and their eyes began to glow with divine power. As one, the thirteen gods joined Poseidon in amplifying his impressive strength.

Their collective minds travelled across the continent to where Poseidon had got a general location for the power surge. Western United States. The gods encountered the barrier Poseidon spoke of. Unifying themselves, they hammered at the barrier. It soon shattered, and a narrower search area was revealed. The Mojave Desert, and a stronger barrier. Once more, they threw their power at the thing preventing them from achieving their goal. Once more, the barrier shattered. Another barrier was revealed, surrounding the area known as Death Valley. This one was different. It was stronger than the other two combined. And it felt…offensive.

The gods went to work the third barrier, but instead of this one slowly cracking, it fought back. The gods grit their teeth at the feeling of pain erupting across their brains. They poured more divine energy into their assault, and the barrier fought back all that much harder.

It seemed like they were about to break through…when the barrier glowed. It released a shockwave that violently sent their consciousness back to their physical bodies. The gods were knocked back into their seats of power, the power backlash also washed over the demigods.

When everyone, besides Hades, had the energy to think once more, they all had the same question:

 _What were they just doing?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **This took longer than I expected. Anyway, some insight to Subject 3's POV, some background info with Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth, a little bit with Poseidon, and some angst in the next chapter…along with some violence.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and leave a review about what you thought.**_

 _ **P.S. Backup Plan is next to be updated.**_


	9. A Case of Mistaken Identity?

_A Case of Mistaken Identity?_

 _ **Woo-hoo! Over one-hundred Follows and nearly one-hundred Favorites! It is safe to say that this story is my most popular one. Thank you all for your support and love over these past four months.**_

 _ **Now onto some deep-rooted psychological issues.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"If someone could tell me what the _fuck_ just happened, that'd be great."

The deadly calm voice of Marian Janssen made the assorted scientists in front of her break out into a cold sweat, snakes slithering up their spines.

They weren't wearing their 'protective helmets,' they all had far more pressing concerns on their hands at the moment. Such as the small tremors that still crawled through the building. Or the fact that two of the lower levels had collapsed. Or the fact that there were currently twenty-three dead and/or missing scientists. Or the fact that a number of experiments were freaking out and the Erasers were having trouble keeping control. Or the fact that the second best group of experiments were mostly all in critical condition. _Or_ the fact that Subject 3 generated a level 7 earthquake that for some reason hadn't had any effect on the surrounding areas. In fact, it wasn't even on the news.

It had been a few days since the incident and Subject 3 was _completely_ unresponsive. The white-coats managed to move her out of the observation atrium and back into her room, but anything else was shut-down. Because of her intense emotional state, S-3 had unleashed a new level of brutality upon those that agitated her further.

It had gotten to the point that the white-coats had stopped trying to send in cleanup crews for the bodies. If the girl wanted her corpses that badly, then she could stink herself up all she wanted.

"Subject 3 has apparently acquired geokinetic powers that include, but may not be limited to, earthquake generation on an unknown scale, but are at least capable of level 7 tremors."

The Director's eyes made Jeb gulp and look away, "A wonderful theory, Batchelder. But I want to know _how_ she got that power, _why_ she has that power, and what _triggered_ that power."

It was the recovered Dr. Groves that answered, "The answer to _why_ could be linked to her unique DNA strand. The answer to what _triggered_ its awakening is most likely tied to her interaction with the avian hybrids. As for _how_ she got that power…your guess is as good as mine, Madam Director."

"Her DNA…Jeb, the reason this whole mess was even created is because your initial analysis of the infant's DNA yielded intriguing results, is it not?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Please refresh my memory on what was so special about my baby girl."

Despite how disturbed he was with what his employer just called a near-genocidal child, Jeb did as he was told, "Perseus Jackson's DNA code was only half-created. Where there was adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine, the opposite nucleic acids were replaced by gold bars. When analyzed, those bars matched no known elements on the Periodic Table. In fact, DNA codes like this were not uncommon, but there was no traceable pattern. The only thing linking the unusual births, was that all the fathers were unknown."

Marian hummed, "Anything else?"

Jeb coughed into his fist, "After we abducted young Perseus, there was a massive surge in freak-weather phenomena. Earthquakes, thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tsunamis were reported all over the planet. Over three thousand were reported dead or missing, and 80% of those deaths were at sea. Also," Jeb finally took a breath, "After Perseus was brought here, the number of infants found with unusual DNA was reduced to zero."

The Director looked at him, "Zero?"

"In the past, there were usually twenty to thirty reported cases a year, from our various sources. After August 18, 1993, however, there were no more reported cases…anywhere," Jeb elaborated.

"…and your thoughts on this, Jeb?"

The Head Researcher looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Jeb. Your thoughts," the Director repeated, more forceful this time.

With a deep breath, Jeb straightened his back, and set his face, "I believe that a divine hand was played. The hand of Subject 3's unknown father."

…

…

…

Then everyone but Janssen and Groves began laughing. Jeb kept his stony expression locked into the calculating eyes of the powerful Director. Groves looked to be contemplating something.

With a simple clearing of the throat, the laughter was abruptly cut off, "You think that Perseus is the son of God?"

Jeb shook his head, "Not the Biblical God, but _a_ god. A pagan deity, for all intents and purposes."

"A pagan?" Marian asked. "If all other divine figures not related to Jesus are 'pagans,' that leaves quite the extensive list."

Jeb nodded in agreement, "Agreed. Initial blood testing didn't reveal any conclusive results as to any clues, but this latest… _event_ has created some insight as to who the father might be."

The Director waved her hand, "Go on."

"While there are a number of earth-based deities in the mythologies, there are four, that I've found, that have direct links to earthquakes: The Inuit god, Alagnak; the Egyptian god, Geb; the Maori god, Ruaumoko; and, finally, the Grecian god, Poseidon," listed Jeb.

"Is there any way you can think of that can prove which one is the father?" All eyes turned to Groves. "What? It's always been debated whether or not other deities exist, and Subject 3, even before her transformation, has exhibited unnatural prowess."

Shaking his head and regaining his bearings, Jeb answered his colleague's question, "The only method I can think of that might even remotely work, is just to test her abilities with each gods' other domains. Of course, more DNA would be of some help as well."

"Yes…" cut in Marian, "Come to think of it, I haven't had any DNA reports in four years. Anyone care to explain that?" A small tremor shook the building. The scientists ignored it.

One of the scientists spoke up, "Well…there haven't been any reports…because there haven't been any made."

"And why, pray tell, have there not been any reports made?"

The scientist shifted, "We haven't been able to acquire any DNA."

Marian Janssen blinked, "How have you not been able to get any DNA samples off of a pre-pubescent little girl?"

"Well…she hasn't exactly bled, at all. And even if she has, our current theories are that her blood is acidic on a level that is on a scale we have yet to encounter. As for hair samples…we've painstakingly combed over her room and every place she's been, but the search has yielded zero results. We've come to the conclusion that she doesn't shed.

"Expanding on the blood samples, we thought if she could shrug off tank rounds, then what was the point of trying a syringe? And if she does have acid for blood, that could've ended in extreme harm to any of us," said the scientist.

Marian sighed. The man offered some valid points. S-3' skin had proven to be so-far impenetrable. And her hair wasn't exactly a collection of dead cells, either. What do to, what to do?

Wait…

The Director looked at the men assembled before her, "What about urine and fecal samples?"

The full-grown men blushed and shifted from foot to foot, obviously uncomfortable talking about _natural body functions._ Marian face palmed at their apparent immaturity, _'Men.'_

"Are you telling me that none of you can handle the excrement of another creature?"

"It's not that, ma'am," answered Jeb, "It's just that Subject 3, in the years following her transformation…has never been to the bathroom."

Marian blinked once…twice… _thrice…_ and then another small tremor rocked her back to the present. "Come again?"

"All of the food and drink we've given to her has been ignored and left untouched for four years. Based on her teeth and visible body parts, we've determined her to be primarily carnivorous, so we've been preparing her meals consisting mostly of meats, but she never ate any of it. And the water we poured was left undisturbed," said Jeb.

"So you're telling me that my daughter hasn't taken a shit or a piss in four years and this is the first time anyone has told me?"

There was a chorus of mumbled 'yes ma'am's and stiff head nods.

The Director shook her head and sighed, _'If she hasn't eaten or drank anything in almost half a decade, then what does her body use for energy I wonder?'_ A particularly large tremor ran through the School. _'Food for thought later.'_

"Back to what you said earlier Dr. Groves. What do you mean that her interaction with the avians 'triggered' her powers?"

"I read a report dating a few days before the transformation occurred. Subject 3 was going through routine physical testing, and was tasked with neutralizing four Erasers. He effortlessly handled the first three, but the fourth managed to run off in a rather pathetic escape attempt. The room he happened to hide in was one of our kennels. The kennel containing the avian hybrids, to be exact. S-3 predictably found and slew the Eraser, in front of the assembled children. While video surveillance yielded inconclusive data, it is believed that Subject 3 imparted some kind of life-altering advice unto young Maximum Ride.

"After the transformation, it was confirmed that Subject 3 had amnesia regarding the first six years of her life. Over time, it became apparent that she had developed telepathic powers, so we took precautionary measures. When we scheduled the experiment regarding Subject 3 and the 'Flock,' as they are commonly called, in none of our calculations did we predict that the girl would use her telepathy on any of them. If we did, we would've prepared accordingly," Groves took a breath after he finished.

"And when she used her telepathy on Maximum, she witnessed the girl's memories of their brief encounter, and poof, no more amnesia. Then all of those lost memories came crashing back at once and she flipped out," Marian summed up.

Groves nodded as a tremor made the office shudder.

"Is there anything we can do to stop these tremors? They're holding up all of our operations."

The Director was right. Because of the constant shakes, all operations and experiments were put on hold. With the unpredictable quakes of varying magnitude coming out of nowhere, the last thing anybody needed was a wrong cut during a surgery, or a vial of spilled or mixed chemicals.

A scientist shook his head, "All teams we've sent in to neutralize her have been slaughtered, and all of the anesthetic gas we've pumped in has had no effect. Either she's built an immunity to it, or her body is burning through it like a wildfire through a dry forest. Whatever the case, all we can do is hope that she calms down before she triggers another event."

Marian Janssen sighed, _'It seems the more we learn about you, my daughter, the more questions that are left unanswered.'_

A tremor shook the School once more.

' _Get well soon, baby girl.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 was curled up in a ball, shaking as if she had a fever, in one of the corners of her cell…on the ceiling. Below her, the floor was covered in a litter of mangled and bloody corpses, the stench of blood heavy in the air.

Her mind was desperately trying to repair itself, the shock of the experiences of six years' worth of memories returning all at once, causing massive internal damage. With the return of those memories, came the return of sensations foreign to her body.

The feeling of being shot, of being stabbed, of being cut, of having her bones broken and shattered, of being concussed, of being out of breath, of being tired. The phantom pains from the flashbacks danced across her body, causing her gut to clench and unclench on reflex, sending shockwaves through the area.

She felt betrayed. Betrayed by her Queens…by her _mothers._ Why didn't they tell her about these memories? About her past life? About the fact that she was once aboy? About the fact that she was once _human_?

The door to her cell opened, light spilling into the graveyard. Subject 3's eyes snapped open in a blind rage, her inky sclera bloodshot with acid-filled veins. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she streaked from her corner on the ceiling landing in front of Eraser squad. Her tail lashed out faster than a bullet, skewering all five of the body-armor-clad men in a shish-kebab. She ripped her tail back, pulling the Erasers into her cell, and flinging them against the adjacent wall.

Another swipe of her tail and the lupine hybrids' heads were _violently_ removed from their bodies.

Without even sparing a glance at the newest additions to her growing corpse party, S-3 leapt back into her corner, re-curling into her ball.

She wasn't even conscious of what she just did, her body set to kill-on-sight, while her fractured psyche desperately tried to mend itself.

' _Daughter…'_

The demigoddess' eyes snapped open upon recognition of her 'mothers' voices, _'_ _You three…!'_ The world shifted from the smelly, claustrophobic confines of her murder-dungeon, into the soundless, sightless, smell-less, endless expanse of the Void. Mist layered the ground about a foot deep.

The giant forms of her Queens stood before her. Subject 3 could feel…guilt, and…nervousness coming from them. Good. They should be nervous. She wasn't feeling merciful at the moment. She was honestly weighing the pros and cons of trying to _kill_ all three of them.

" _Why did you lie to me for_ _four_ _years?"_

" _It was for your protection. If your personality then and now were to have mixed, you would've been killed,"_ answered the middle Queen.

Subject 3 made a sound between a hiss and a growl, _"I was already strong enough to leave this place, becoming what I am now only increased my power! What could've possibly been strong enough to kill me!?"_ she mentally roared.

The Queens spoke as one, _"Inexperience."_

"' _Inexperience?'"_ Subject 3 mocked, _"I've read the minds of almost all of the scientists in this forsaken shit hole. I can tell you everything about anyone. From the time they first masturbated, to when they last relieved themselves. Their worldly knowledge was also on the menu. I am not 'inexperienced.' So I will ask again: why did you give me false information, and why did you prevent me from leaving this place when all of you_ _knew_ _that the thing I most wanted was freedom?"_

The Fates were silent. They had no answer, or rather, they had no convincing lie. Telling the truth now would lead Perseus to carve a path straight through the United States all the way to Long Island. With her unpredictable nature, they were not willing to risk the lives of over a hundred-and-fifty demigods.

However, not telling her anything would prove to be an even more disastrous decision. This was already a precarious situation. It looked like the only resolution would be to wipe the girl's memory, but that could damage Percy's mind even more than it already was. They were already spending a lot of power hiding her from Hades and Poseidon's geokinetic senses, the last thing they needed was a mental power struggle with an overly irate demigoddess daughter of the Sea God. The girl had definitely inherited her _daddy's_ temper.

Damn those mortals and their constant interference! If they just left well-enough alone, this shit-storm of a dimension wouldn't exist! Percy would've gone on to be kicked out of several schools, protected by a fat lump of a mortal step-father, and then go on to lead several quests that would save Olympus from the rising Titans. Now they had to deal with a little girl more interested in _genocide_ than in saving the world.

May Chaos help them all when she started puberty and her sexual desires clashed with her Hive-instincts.

Unfortunately, in the time it took for the Daughters of Ananke to think all of that, Subject 3's patience reached an all-time low. She took their silence as a sign of what it truly was: more lies. And it sent her temper through the moon and beyond. With a shriek that sounded like ripping steel…her mind slammed into that of the Aliens in front of her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside her cell, Subject 3's eyes slowly opened. They were clear of their previous bloodshot pattern, and held a deadly focus. Her mental battle with the queens was short, yet brutal. She had lost of course, but even in her cracked state she didn't expect to win. But winning wasn't her end game. It was a message, more than anything. A message telling her former mothers-she refused to think of them as family-that she wasn't a toy to be played with. It was also a way to put herself back together.

When the queens surged back against her mind, the backlash of the mental struggle had repaired the 'cracks.' Instead of memories crashing against each-other in a never-ending cacophony of pain and migraines, she could perfectly each and every detail of each and every moment of her ten years of life.

Yippee.

She dislodged herself from her corner, landing with a splash. Her nose crinkled with disgust and self-loathing. How could she have lost control this much? The kills weren't even clean. These bodies were little more meat sacks. Bones, internal organs, and over a hundred gallons of blood covered her floor, and the smell almost made her vomit acid. It was the work of a rabid animal, not the art of a highly-intelligent being.

She swore to herself that she would never lose control like that again.

Sloshing through moat of corpses to where the 'hidden door' was supposed to be, she internally debated what she wanted to do next. With her newly restored memory, her past ambitions had resurfaced. The desire to see the ocean, to be free of this damn place, and to rescue those kids…

…the ones that she probably just put into an ICU.

Gathering her thoughts, she spread her mind to as far as she could reach, searching for any information on the location of Maximum Ride and her mutant flock. After a few seconds of coming through the School, she found her targets.

Hm. All of them besides Angel were treated for multiple broken bones, skull fractures, and mild to major concussions. The only thing the four-year-old needed was a change of underwear. That was expected, Angel was borderline still a baby, and potty-training wasn't exactly an easy task when locked in a dog-crate for all of your life. The shock of Subject 3's mental assault and the following earthquake had caused the poor child lose control of _both_ ends.

What was _un_ expected was the fact that the White-coats were having her undergo telepathic capacity tests.

That wasn't good. An unstable telepath was a dangerous thing, Subject 3 knew that from experience. With none of the others anywhere near 100% recovered, Fang, Nudge, and Gazzy dealing with mild brain damage from the blows they took, and the animosity that was directed at the demigoddess…it was probably best to let them be for now.

The Daughter of Poseidon growled, her teeth glowing in the darkness. She promised that she wouldn't leave them behind, but she had also most-likely damaged any possibility of having a positive relationship with the hybrids. That would make things difficult in the future. When the time came to break out of here came, whether or not they would come with her was up for debate.

With those thoughts in mind, Subject 3 resolved herself to wait once more. She had waited ten years already; she could wait longer. She would bide her time, as she always had. She would continue to kill, grow stronger, become smarter and wiser. This place still had its uses, and Marian Janssen's days were numbered a long time ago. A few more months would hurt only those that got in S-3's way.

She had changed. A second metamorphosis, in a sense. The demigoddess felt calmer, more tolerant, more clear-headed. Make no mistake, she would still ruthlessly slaughter any that challenged her…but there be less malice, less hatred in it. Before her first metamorphosis, she killed only because she had to, it was only with time that her mindset had switched from a 'had-to,' to a 'I enjoy this.' Her change into a female had only increased that sadistic pleasure.

Now she would kill only if there was no other clear option.

The Daughter of Poseidon had a sinking feeling that there wouldn't be many clear options in the future, not in this place, at any rate. With a clear conscious, and a firm resolve, Subject 3 stood resolute in her cell. Her only thought was: _'Damn it stinks in here.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Jesus, this took a helluva lot longer than it should have. I am deeply sorry for this late update; I don't know what happened.**_

 _ **Regardless of my terrible habits, I hope all of you had a good Easter last week, and will have a good next five days.**_

 _ **Points to whomever can spot the anime reference, and can tell me where I got the name of the chapter.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review please! Inputs and constructive criticism are extremely helpful and appreciated!**_


	10. Team Building

_Team Building_

 _ **The next chapter of Xenomorphic, almost a month later, has finally arrived! Based on the title, I'm sure you can guess what this chapter will be about, but since I'm a nice guy, I'll tell you anyway.**_

 _ **Subject 3 will be making some new friends in this installment, aka The Flock.**_

 _ **We'll also be exploring some the School's horrors, though that will be brief.**_

 _ **Head's up: Subject 3 fought the Flock on December 28, 2003.**_

 _ **Also, long ago, an author by the name of Dante Fernandez asked me if Predators will make an appearance. That event…will be set up at the very end of this chapter.**_

 _ **In response to Guestimundo's review:**_ _You are correct_ _ **.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I don't own AVP, Maximum Ride, or PJO._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _January 5, 2004_

 _Subject 3 is ten year's old_

 _A few days after Memory Restoration_

 _The showers_

Poseidon's daughter turned the nobs, and water washed over her body. It was the most amazing feeling the girl had ever felt in her decade of life. In all of her memories, not once did she recall ever taking a bath. For some reason, the School and her past self never saw the need for one. Not even in the past four years did she take one.

From the minds of the women S-3 had read, the current feeling that was running through her body was most akin to sexual pleasure. But that made no sense, since she was only ten and most girls didn't start puberty until they were twelve or thirteen. Then again, she wasn't most girls. She was a super-biological experiment that had ultra-dense skin, muscles, bones, a bladed tail, acid blood, and-

' _Gah! I think too much…'_

Forcefully cutting off her train of thought, Subject 3 relaxed under the stream, letting her worries and stress wash down the drain…or would have if she wasn't unintentionally picking up the thoughts of the Erasers that were 'guarding' her with their backs turned.

The shower she was in was rather small. 5x10 feet of tiled walls and floors, with an entrance that was only blocked with a rather thin curtain obscuring the view. The wolf-hybrids' natural instincts were kicking in, and the only thing preventing them barging in here and pleasing themselves was the fact that they wouldn't get two feet in before their heads were removed.

Other than trying hypnosis, S-3 didn't see a clear option.

Clearing her mind once more, the Daughter of Poseidon lost herself in her personal waterfall. The dried blood was washed away, as well as the smell of dead bodies. She felt pure in a way that she had never felt before.

Maybe it had something to do with the water.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _About two hours later_

Subject 3 was being lead through the halls of the School to her new cell. She didn't care about the destination, but the journey. Walking through the white expanse, the young telepath let her mind roam free about the facility. A few days ago, she wouldn't have given a flying fish about anybody else in this damned place besides herself. But, that had clearly changed.

Now she was horrified about what this place's deeds.

The cries of agony, the screams of pain, the pleads for mercy and death…it was almost overwhelming. Children of all ages were being tortured and experimented on for any reason the white-coats could think of. Laying in dog-crates, failed experiments died slowly and painfully as the end came for them. Most of the experiments were kidnapped right off the street, most of them in the middle of public. Some were taken as they _walked home from school_.

Now here they were, turned into genetic mutants, dying alone and afraid in the darkness, their only companions being the hungry rats waiting for a free meal.

Subject 3 zeroed in on the mind of a teenager, a girl of sixteen. She was brought here only a few days ago, right after her birthday. Her and her friends had gone out for a night on the town, taking pictures, eating food, trying on clothes, just being normal teenage boys and girls…when the Erasers attacked.

From the panicked flashes that were her memories, the girl had watched as her friends were slaughtered, either shot or ripped apart. Her boyfriend's head was torn clean off his shoulders. For some reason, only she was left alive. An Eraser had hit her in the head, knocking her out. The final fate of her friends was most likely travelling through something's intestines and ending up as grass fertilizer.

After being brought here, it was none other than H.G. Groves that supersized the gene-splicing. The man had recovered from S-3's mental assault remarkably well, and was eager to get back in the saddle once more. And get in the saddle he did. He subjected the poor girl to an experiment involving an extinct animal, using DNA scraped together from bones.

It was a failure.

Now the girl's body was rapidly deteriorating from the inside, her DNA coming apart. At best, she had only a few minutes left. Her thoughts were filled with pain, suffering, and loss. For her final moments, those were not the right thoughts.

The Daughter of Poseidon fixed that.

Lightly touching her mind, Subject 3 brought forth the girl's _happy_ memories. Her fourth birthday when her daddy helped blow out the candles. The time she finally rode a bike. When she went to school and met her best friend for the first time. When she went horseback riding in the fields. Her first kiss with her boyfriend. When the semester ended and she passed all of her classes. When she and her family went on a mountain vacation.

Alicia Gordon died with a small smile on her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _January 18, 2004_

 _Death Match Arena_

Subject 3 sidestepped a charging Venom-enhanced man. A quick swish of her tail and the man no longer had a head. A painless death. The demigoddess jumped up and thrust her tail downward, the blade piercing the brain of a Titan-enhanced man. Landing silently, S-3 rolled to avoid the gigantic, meaty fist of one hyped up on TN-1. The girl scrambled up the side of the behemoth, jumped off of his neck, twisted in mid-air, and brought her hands down hard upon the muscle mountain's disproportionate head. A sickening crack reverberated around the arena.

With a tired sigh, the telepath reminisced on her latest kills. The first was a homeless man found on the streets of L.A. His wife divorced him and left nothing, not even their children could come see him. The second man was actually a boy of age seventeen. He was due a football scholarship to Southern California with his girlfriend of three years. The third man was happily married for ten years, had a stable, well-paying job, and two children. His twin daughters were going to celebrate their sixth birthday in two days.

The party theme was Disney Princesses.

The girl looked at the quickly bleeding-out corpses. So much death…so much unneeded killing. Subject 3 felt conflicted, honestly. On one hand, she felt nothing for these men. No pity, no remorse, no regret, no pride, no triumph…nothing. On the other hand, she realized what she had done, what she had taken away from others, and it felt _wrong._

Subject 3 chalked it up to her remaining humanity conflicting with her xenobiology.

Looking up at the observation window, fire ignited in those abyssal-green orbs as they locked on to the most hated person in her life. Marian Janssen, aka the Director. It was her mouth that gave the orders, her hand that paid the money, her _will_ that governed this place. In her decade of life, Subject 3 had made this woman's death her life's ambition. Nothing more, nothing less. The feeling of her claws slicing through her body, the feeling of her tail piercing her flesh, the feeling of her teeth sinking into skin and muscle, the coppery taste of blood filling her mouth…it was these thoughts that gave her a reason to live.

But, S-3 idly wondered, after she killed the bitch…what would she do next?

" _Don't lose hope. If you ever find yourself giving up, find something to fight for. It's what keeps me going."_

She really was quite mature for a child, wasn't she?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _February 12, 2004_

Sitting alone in her new cell (which was an _exact_ replica of her old one, minus the bodies), our star of the story began practicing her newest skill: seismic vibration sensing. It was something she discovered when the white-coats and Erasers came to remove her from her personal butcher shop. She could feel the vibrations caused by the footfalls of the men.

So, on top of enhanced hearing and smell, electro-location, and pheromone-sensing, she now had vibration sensing.

If anything was able to sneak up on her, something was very wrong.

Focusing on the steps of a random woman, S-3 tracked her only by the seismic waves generated by her feet. A right, then a left, straight, up the elevator, down the hall, another left, and…oh. Nature called.

Alright, backing off from that one, Subject 3 focused on a man. He left his lab, went down the hall, greeted other men and woman during his walk, took a right into another section of the School. His heart beat raised, and not from his brisk pace, but from nervousness about something. Taking a left, the man entered a small room…where a female was waiting.

The ten-year-old's eyes snapped open and she cancelled her training for the day. Despite reading _adult_ minds, she didn't want a play-by-play of sexual intercourse. Speaking of, S-3 highly doubted she could even have sex. A male taking her virginity would have to break her hymen…which would bleed…and she had acidic blood…yeah, human sex probably wasn't possible. Besides, with her regeneration, whether or not her hymen would re-heal was unknown.

And she didn't feel testing _that_ out with either claws, or a _bladed tail._

Now that she had entered this tract of thinking, S-3 began wondering about her xenomorphic reproduction cycle. She doubted she could form the ovipositor necessary to lay the eggs which held the next generation of children. But…something was beginning to happen.

Her body was gearing up for sexual maturation, of that she was sure. The small pains she felt in her abdomen were telling her something, and she wasn't sure she liked what was happening. It felt like a space was trying to open up inside her.

Scary.

Moving on from thoughts of any potential children, Subject 3 spread her mind out, looking for a specific set of minds. Combing through the silent screams of loneliness and pain, the academic and scheming minds of the white-coats, and the brutal and perverted minds of the Erasers. Then she found them: The Flock.

Physically, they had all healed. Bones mended, fractures had healed, and concussions were almost gone. Almost. Their regeneration had taken care of their skeletal and internal injuries in under twenty days, but while they healed faster, brain damage wasn't something that was taken care of in a night, even for genetic hybrids.

Mentally was a different story. Fang, Iggy, Gasman, and Nudge had their pride wounded and their spirits crushed. The saving grace was Maximum. The girl had told her flock the truth of Subject 3's identity, about how she was once the boy that killed the Eraser all those years ago. That had earned Subject 3 some sympathy points, but the bird-kids still had their reservations.

' _Hey S-3!'_

The hybrid mentally smiled when the thoughts of the youngest Flock-member came through, _'Hello, Angel. How is your family?'_

' _They're good,'_ came the subdued response. _'The School hasn't put us through any more tests yet, but I can tell they're about to do something to us. It has everybody on edge.'_

Subject 3 took this in stride, _'Remain strong. They won't do anything too lethal, the higher-ups have taken interest in you and the Flock. Besides, Jeb is on your side, and it would be unwise for any here to cross him. But keep wary. They can still inflict pain.'_

' _Don't worry, I'll be fine. Man, your almost as worse as Max.'_

Subject 3 cut the mental connection with a shaking head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fang frowned when he saw Angel's eyes glaze over in the typical way that signified she was using her telepathy. That could only mean one thing: she was communicating with Subject 3.

Fang had primarily negative feelings for the boy-whoops, _girl_. On one hand, S-3 was the one that had created the philosophy that his Flock was based on. On the other… _she just tried to murder them!_

"She wasn't trying to kill us, you know."

The silent Flock member turned his gaze to Angel, "Whatever she was or wasn't trying to do, she put me, Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge into an ICU. That's not even counting the migraines we had- _still_ having-because of her. Also, if memory serves, you ending up wetting and _messing_ yourself because S-3 brain-attacked you or whatever it's called."

Angel blushed at the reminder of her accident, "Yeah, well…if she really was trying to kill us, she would've done it. Besides, if she remembered who you guys were, don't you think she would've held back?"

"No," Iggy answered without hesitation. "Just because Subject 3 met us when we were kids doesn't mean she formed any emotional or sentimental attachment to us. We talked for maybe five minutes, and that was after he murdered an Eraser in what was basically cold blood. Considering all of that, I think the kid would've had no problem killing us."

Iggy's logic was sound and right on the money. Angel grit her teeth and looked away, an angry blush on her face.

"She's not our enemy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _March 23, 2004_

 _Death Match Arena_

Subject 3 was something she hadn't felt in a long time: apprehensive.

Seismic sensing, electro-location, pheromone sensing, and good ol' fashion telepathy had picked up the presences of the approaching Flock. The near-future confrontation wasn't what had her on edge, it was the fact that Janssen wanted them to fight _together._

Not against them, but as a _team._

She did not play well with others, previous encounters with _everything_ had proven that.

The pheromones surrounding the Flock were currently green, but when the door opposite of Subject 3 opened and the avians saw her, four of six turned red, one went neutral, the last one remained green and shouted out: "Hey there!"

Subject 3's brow twitched at the over-friendliness of little Angel. This was not the time for being amiable. At the suspicious glares and gazes of the rest of Flock, S-3 hardened her heart. Her eyes turned into green steel, and the avians fidgeted. Well, most of them.

Iggy got confused and Angel continued waving.

" _Good afternoon, my duckies!"_ the Director said in a crappy English accent. _"Today, we will be witnessing the conjoined efforts of Subject 3, aka 'The Princess of Death,' and a small group of avian hybrids, aka 'The Flock.'"_

"The 'Princess of Death?'" Max asked disbelievingly.

Subject 3 shook her head, _'News to me.'_

" _The rules of today's Death Matches are simple: Everyone fights, no one quits. Fail to do so, and I'll kill you myself._ _ **(Points to whomever can guess which movie those lines are from.)**_ _Now, for the first event…"_

S-3 and the Flock looked toward the direction of an opening door. From the darkness emerged a massive canine creature that looked like an Eraser that was force-fed growth hormone.

"… _Quint Lane! An orphan boy whose father once worked for us in one of our front-companies, before Daddy had a rather nasty accident. Now Quinty is part of a new experiment we've dubbed 'Uber Lycian.' Try not to die, kiddies!"_

The monstrous, rabid form of Lane roared at the children, spittle flying from his toothy maw. Getting on all fours, the giant wolf ran at them. The Flock took to the air in synchronization with mighty flaps of their wings. Subject 3 didn't have wings, but killing this beast on her own would result in the deaths of the people she was trying to save.

She felt unequivocally attached to the Flock in a way she couldn't explain.

If she caused their deaths, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

S-3 easily leapt over Lane, the wolf racing beneath her unable to stop his momentum and careened into the wall. The girl landed in a crouch and looked straight into Max's eyes, _'I can handle this myself, but we need to work together to kill him. Otherwise, the Director will kill all of you.'_

Max turned green as she relayed the message to the others. Their reactions were similar to their leader's. Great, they've never kill anything before. Another roar lead to another dodge which led to another dent in a wall.

' _This is not the time to question your morality. You don't have to kill anything today, but I expect you to fight with me.'_

Max flapped her wings, "What do you want us to do?"

Lane recovered from his second daze and glared fury at Subject 3. Experience told the girl that _now_ was the time for the killing blow.

' _Distract him.'_

Max nodded and dove down, her Flock diving with her. Lane howled and began his third charge…only for a bunch of avians to swoop down into his face. What followed was a mess of feathers, kicks, and punches. Lane tried to snap at the hybrids, but their maneuverability was far superior.

With the Flock successfully keeping Fido distracted, Subject 3 executed her next move. Lane raised up, exposing his neck. Like a missile from Hell, S-3 bulldozed right into the beast's sternum. Wrapping her legs around what she could, she rammed her claws into Lane's throat, and used her tail to spear right through his heart.

She ripped her appendages out, blood spraying her as she detached herself. Lane's body hit the floor with a resounding thud. The Flock landed behind the demigoddess, their wings curling up.

"Uhh…good job?" Nudge said uncertainly.

S-3 looked at the avian over her shoulder, _'You as well. There is more to come; prepare your selves.'_

The girl turned around fully, her back to Quint Lane's still warm corpse. Her nude body made all but Angel and Iggy blush and look away. There was a very light, faint, tiny, almost invisible dusting of pink on Fang's cheeks.

Subject 3 sighed, _'If you can't used to my body, it's going to be a very long day.'_ Max huffed, "It's not our fault you can't at least put on some underwear."

Sea-green eyes locked with brown ones, _'Adapt or die. Learn to look at a nude form, or die. Keep a straight head, or_ _die_ _. Maybe you should explore your own body some more. It might help you cope with seeing me.'_

Max blushed and sputtered at Subject 3's insinuation, Angel giggled, having piggybacked on the conversation, and the rest of the Flock looked lost.

The mood was ruined, however, when S-3's senses went haywire. _'Shit! A regenerator!'_ Her discovery broadcast, everyone leapt back, just in time to avoid the massive paw that was attached to Lane's arm. "How do we beat something that heals from having his neck and heart ripped open!?" Fang yelled.

Subject 3 locked eyes with the young man, _'We remove his head.'_

Lane stood up and growled at them, blood matting down his fur. The Flock took to the air once more, leaving the demigoddess alone on the ground. "Same plan as before?" Max asked.

Lane reeled his claw back and swiped at S-3. The girl _grabbed_ the arm and spun, launching the wolf into the air. _'Grab him and keep him up!'_

Despite their shock and disbelief, the avians did as they were told. Max and Fang grabbed the arms, Iggy and Nudge grabbed the legs, and Gazzy and Angel flew underneath to support the underside. Their combined enhanced-strength was just enough to keep the heavy beast aloft…for a brief period.

But that was all that our anti-hero needed.

She sprinted right below the airborne Lane, and leapt up, her powerful legs catapulting her up at over two-hundred miles an hour…right next to the wolf's head. Her bladed-tail sliced right through the neck and cleanly severed his head.

The Flock promptly dropped the now-dead body. The floor cracked beneath Lane's impressive weight. The children landed on the floor as one. They looked at each other, then at Quint's bleeding out corpse, then back to each other, then at Quint's head, then back at each other once more.

"Who's the crazy bitch?" asked Fang. Max whacked him upside the head for using 'foul language in the presence of children,' referring to Angel and Gazzy.

The Daughter of Poseidon shook her head at the display, _'Her name is Marian Janssen. She's the director of this place, and my self-proclaimed 'mother.''_

The Flock blinked. They appeared to be adjusting to telepathic communication rather well. "She's the one who runs this place?" Fang's eyes held fire, but his voice held ice. "I don't care what it takes…I'll find her and kill her."

Before anyone's heart could beat, the gothic Flock member was lifted into the air by his throat. Wings unfurled and five avians were surrounding the pair. Even Angel stood ready to fight.

' _Listen and listen well, all of you,'_ the demigoddess's eyes shined with a cold, righteous fury. _'Her life is mine, and mine alone. If you get between me and Janssen, I'll cut you down too.'_ She dropped Fang. The hybrid clutched his throat as he coughed and breathed in air. Growling, he sprung up ready to throw a punch…but he tripped on his own feet.

And fell nose-first right into Subject 3's crotch.

There was a slight green tinge to the girl's cheeks as Fang accidently buried himself into her sex. They were too young for this shit! With a very uncharacteristic shriek, S-3 batted the boy away from her. The organic projectile slammed into Iggy, who was too slow to react to the shifting air-currents.

As Max blushed, exasperation and…jealousy…wormed into her heart and mind, _'He just…and she just…oh, man. If this keeps up, we're all going to die!'_

The ridiculousness of the situation was quickly destroyed when another door began to rise.

Subject 3 only had one thought, _'Round Two…Fight!'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Months passed like minutes. Over the course of that time, the Flock and Subject 3 bonded. Regular telepathic communication, and weekly team fights, the experiments were brought together. They discussed plans and battle strategy. What to do in certain situations. How to fight without killing. How to inflict pain without maiming. Embarrassing stories S-3 and Angel picked up from the white-coats.

Under the guidance of the elder telepath, Angel learned how to use her power effectively tactically.

Their fighting ability honed almost to the point of machinery. Every opponent faced was dealt with quickly and efficiently. The Flock would distract and debilitate, while Subject 3 went in for the killing blow.

Sadly, over time, the Flock became desensitized to death. After watching S-3 do it so many times, the avians, not even little Angel, felt nothing for those that they helped kill. In fact, Max had begun discussing and implementing strategies that involved _them_ doing the bloody work. While reluctant, the demigoddess was also a realist.

The Flock also became comfortable with seeing Subject 3 naked. Despite his budding hormones, Fang could look at the girl without blushing, or his pants getting tighter. Something Max found to be very relieving.

A topic often brought up between them all, was how to escape. Because of telepathy, electro-location, and seismic vibration, Subject 3 had quite the mental map of the School. They had created plans, and backup plans, and plans within plans that were hidden in backup plans that were connected to other plans. The only thing that kept them here was the after plan.

When they got out of here, what then? A life of constantly running (or flying) wasn't ideal, and they couldn't exactly buy a house and create fake identities so they could integrate into society. So, the After Plan was still in the brainstorming stage.

But, with the passage of time, a certain date approached. A date that would mark an anniversary. A date that a rite of passage would take place. The date in which _they_ arrived.

October 10, 2004.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Unknown Space_

Sailing through the void at speeds beyond what any human vehicle could accomplish, an alien vessel carved a path straight through to a planet that was home to a sacred hunting ground.

Within the vessel, three humanoid creatures shrouded in shadow entered a weapons room. There, they began to equip themselves. Bracers that contained blades and powerful net-launchers. Discs that expanded into massive stars. Collapsible spears capable of piercing through the strongest of bone. Body armor that allowed for mobility, yet boasted great protection and adaptive camouflage.

As the humanoids picked their weapons, three masks of strange design sat in the middle of the room, all facing each other in a triangular fashion.

Within the middle of the masks' vision…a holographic image of pyramid slowly rotated.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **The bond between S-3 and the Flock has grown strong. Meanwhile, a ship carrying unknown beings with unknown intent makes its way to Earth with an unknown purpose.**_

 _ **Next Chapter: Alien vs. Predator!**_


	11. Aliens vs Predator: Pt 1

_Alien vs. Predator: Pt 1_

 _ **Well, it appears I must award points to multiple people for their knowledge of movie quotes. Congratulations to all those that correctly guest**_ _ **Starship Troopers!**_

 _ **On to more serious matters: this chapter will finally feature events I've been dying to write about for months now. Subject 3 going to Antarctica and battling with the Predators.**_

 _ **This will be following the movie closely, so if stuff seems familiar, it probably is.**_

 _ **Now let's get to the story…**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Antarctica_

 _October 10, 1904_

 _Razorback Point Whaling Station_

A man with shaggy, blonde hair and a frost covered beard ran through the abandoned buildings of the station. He was running from _it,_ running from _them._

The man and the rest of the crew had made port here some months ago to find and kill whales for their oil, and meat. They had met with great success, greater success than they had ever imagined. In the few months they had been here, they already had enough barrels filled to satisfy three different expeditions.

That was they found the pyramid beneath the ice.

Against all better judgement, the natural curiosity of man demanded they explore their find. The chances for fame, glory, and wealth was too much to ignore. Entering the strange structure, the men found otherworldly statues, and unknown marking and symbols. Delving deeper into the pyramid, the whalers came across a strange chamber filled with skeletons…that were missing most of their ribcages. When they saw the remains of the spider-like creatures with the long tails, they should've left.

Clearly, they did not.

Instead, large, leathery, egg-things rose from sacrificial altars. Once more, the innate desire for more knowledge had the whalers get closer to the eggs. The tops of the things opened…and Death's outstretched hand greeted them.

The spiders attached themselves to the faces of most of those present. Survival instincts kicked in and the rest ran for their lives…only to encounter giant distortions in the air. Distortions that had swords and spears.

The monsters had swiftly slaughtered the fleeing whalers. The blonde man was able use the harpoon he brought with him to some degree of defense, the creatures were far stronger, and far more well-versed in combat.

The blonde man would've been killed like the others…if the black serpents hadn't showed up. What followed next was a brutal battle between two species, a battle that the blonde did not sit around to see.

He grabbed his harpoon and made a beeline straight for the entrance. On his way up, one of the serpent things had intercepted him. Maybe it was God, maybe it was adrenaline, maybe it was the man's sheer will to survive, but armed with his whale-spear the man had _killed_ the black-beast.

That was when he learned what acid did to objects.

Weaponless, terror had returned and the blonde desperately reached the surface to warn the crew that had stayed topside to start pushing off…only to find their skinless bodies hanging upside down from the yardarms.

Now his fear only increased ten-fold.

Stumbling through the buildings, erratically looking behind to make sure he wasn't about to be turned into a kebab, the blonde reached the first sign of shelter. Pushing the heavy, frost covered door open, the man found the heat of the mess hall comforting, inviting, and warm.

Slamming the door shut behind him, relief flooded his body. Maybe now he was safe…

Then he heard the dreaded clicking of _it._

His body went ramrod-straight, fear gripping him in a vice. Slowly, rigidly, the man turned, and saw what he prayed he wouldn't. A giant distortion stood behind him.

The man stumbled back as the creature clicked and became visible. He fell and the creature's blades were drawn from its wrist. Crawling backwards, the man looked behind him, searching for a way out. He found none and slammed into a counter.

Three red dots in the form of a triangle appeared on his chest, and began travelling towards his head. Hearing a sound to his left, the man jerked his head saw _one of the serpents!_

How did it get in here!?

The serpent shrieked and leapt at the giant. What happened next was irrelevant, because the blonde took the opportunity to get the hell out of dodge. Sprinting through the snow-covered station once more, ignoring the biting cold, the man reached the whaling ship. Staggering down into the hold, an idea formed in the man's mind.

One that involved oil, gunpowder, and a flame.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The man survived his ordeal at the whaling station, and was rescued by another ship in the area…one that came to investigate the smoke and fire. Knowing that no one would believe the truth, the man spun a convincing tale of an accident that caused the whale oil to explode, killing all but him.

Returning to America, the man quit whaling, and used the funds he had gathered to get in touch with scientists, historians, and researchers. Through expeditions and discoveries, the man became wealthy, and intelligent.

Using his money, the man founded a research company that looked into matters of medicine and science, but behind closed doors, looked into matters of extraterrestrial origin.

When he started his company, Robert Itexicon had no idea the things it would go on to accomplish.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _October 3, 2004_

 _Badwater Basin_

 _The School_

While a Weyland Industries satellite picked up an unidentified heat signature over Sector 14, the Director, and her subordinates Groves and Batchelder, were having a very important conversation.

"The time has come, gentlemen. After one-hundred years of waiting, the pyramid is reactivating. I have no doubt that with this event, the creatures that my father spoke about will be returning, and with them will come the opportunity to better ourselves. The weapons my father described will undoubtedly provide us with an armory of advanced technology, and the body of the creatures will propel us _decades_ into the future of genetics."

Marian looked extremely proud of herself, Groves was smirking widely, and Batchelder looked apprehensive.

"You say that as if we have a 100% chance of either killing or capturing one of these things," said the scientist.

The Director smirked in a way that made Jeb cringe, "Oh, but we do. Why on earth do you think we bothered synthesizing the alien's DNA? When you came to me with the knowledge of Subject 3's unique genetic code, I provided you with resources and money to conduct your experiments. And, after witnessing the resounding success of the boy, it was only logical to mark him up for the Program."

Jeb's glasses looked about ready to fall off his face, "That was seven years ago…you couldn't possibly have planned to use Subject 3 for _this_ purpose. The amount of variables is astronomical."

"That may be, Jeb, but I've always been a good gambler. The entire purpose of Subject 3, from the moment she emerged from the chrysalis, was to fight and defeat those creatures. Based on my father's stories, the Serpent's and the Creatures are natural-born enemies. Using that hypothesis, I expect Subject 3 to fight them with extreme prejudice. When the dust settles, we'll come in and pick up the scraps."

Jeb stared at her for a moment, before asking a bunch of questions, "How do you expect to get Subject 3 to Antarctica? What happens if the creatures don't show up? What happens if they do, but they kill the girl? What happens if the creatures' bodies are unrecoverable? What happens if Subject 3 escapes and goes more rogue than she already is? If she succeeds in killing the creatures, how do you get her back to here? What will you do if Subject 3 and the creatures team up against us? What happens if both parties are mutually destroyed?"

Janssen's eye twitched, "We'll get her to Antarctica by ship. If they don't show up, we keep waiting. If Subject 3 dies, it means she wasn't strong enough, and we'll create something that is. If the bodies are unrecoverable, we'll salvage what we can. If she goes rogue, we'll hunt her down and recover her. To get her back here will require incentive. If they team up, I'll drop a nuke on their location. If both are destroyed, we'll take back what's left. Anything else?"

Jeb nodded, "What ship? How long will we have to wait? How do we make something stronger than our strongest experiment yet? What amount of personnel will it take to 'recover' a fleeing Subject 3? What kind of incentive? Where the hell do you have a nuclear bomb? And if there's nothing left?"

"The ship that Weyland will no doubt use to get to Antarctica. We'll wait as long as it takes. We will find a way. As many as are needed. The kind that involves friends. Deep into my anus. If there's nothing left, then too bad. Anything _else?"_

Jeb opened his mouth, but Groves was quick to cut him off, "Actually, Director, I was wondering what makes you so sure that Weyland will take a ship to the island?"

Janssen chuckled, "You used to work for him did you not? You tell me why he would even do to Antarctica in the first place."

Groves thought for a moment, recalling his time spent with the billionaire, "Weyland is ambitious, but he also has an inferiority complex. Despite his wealth, he is correct in his belief that money is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. So…" his eyes lit up in an epiphany, "He will go to the pyramid in order to 'discover' it, and have his name marked down as the one who discovered the remains of the civilization that built it."

The Director nodded, "And he will become immortal in the same way Columbus, Cortez, and de Gama have become. A historical icon," she said wistfully. "Such a shame he will never live to see it."

"Ma'am?" Groves and Batchelder asked in unison.

"What? Did you really think that I would allow for outside parties to know of something of this magnitude? Subject 3 had shown excellent assassination skills. Time to put them to work."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Pocket Dimension_

The Fates slammed their hands to their faces in perfect sync. Of course the Yautja would come back. Of course someone would notice that damn pyramid reactivating. Of course that person would gather a team to investigate. Of course Janssen would send Percy to go with that team.

 _Of course_ they would get to the pyramid by way of the sea.

Why couldn't they have just gone by way of air? It would've been so much less complicated, and so much easier to hide Poseidon's daughter from Zeus in the air, than in the Sea God's home domain.

Now they would have to pull in a lot of power to keep the girl hidden from her father. Unlike his younger brother, Poseidon was still very attentive and involved in the search for his _son._ The sea didn't care about gender, however, and would easily recognize one of its own.

On top of keeping her hidden, the Fates also dreaded what the next few days would bring. Even with all of their divine power, they could not prevent _that_ from happening…

The Daughters of Ananke feared that the incurring wrath of Poseidon's daughter would lead to the deaths of _millions._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Ice Breaker ship:_ _Piper Maru_

 _October 3, 2004_

Subject 3 really hated the bitch that was Marian Janssen. She and the Flock were literal _hours_ away from starting phase one of their escape plan, when Erasers busted in to their respective holding areas. The Flock was made into hostages as insurance that she does as she was told.

That was to stowaway on some billionaire's boat and prevent the crew from exploring an ancient pyramid. Noncompliance would result in the avians' deaths. Something the alien hybrid would not allow to happen.

Sucking up her pride and swallowing her fury, S-3 accompanied the Director and Groves (Batchelder stayed behind to 'hold down the fort') to the port where the ship was docked. Sneaking aboard was child's play, and hiding was even easier.

The worst part of the entire ordeal was that on the ride to the ship, Groves and Janssen were sitting _right in front of her._ Their smug faces as they knew she couldn't do anything to them without getting the Flock murdered was nothing short of rage-inducing.

The temptation to slaughter those two was so great, but even the slightest hint of hostile movement would result in the Director pressing a button that would paint a room with bird-kid brain matter. Those two had said they would monitor the 'mission' via satellite.

But that was the past. Now she was sticking to the ceiling of the ice breaker's cargo hold, her body camouflaging to match the metal. Beneath her were the people that Weyland had hired for his expedition.

They were all ambitious idiots with dreams of grandeur. The only one here with a level head was Alexa Woods, an expert ice-guide that realized that these people would need weeks of training to be prepared for this ordeal.

Such a shame she would have to die as well.

Another thing that Janssen wanted the demigoddess to do was kill everyone on the _Piper Maru._ Noncompliance would result in the Flock's death. It was either the lives of complete strangers, or, dare she say it, her family.

Watching Weyland's presentation over the pyramid, and de Rosa's theory that it was by the 'First Civilization,' the girl felt a strange kinship with the ancient structure. A powerful instinct within her told Subject 3 that these people were outsiders, and needed to be gone. They knew far too much already.

But a massacre right here and now would cause more problems that what were needed, and killing them off one-by-one during the voyage would only arouse suspicion and insight panic among the crew. So, like she seemed to be doing a lot recently, Subject 3 resolved to wait.

Another instinct _demanded_ that she goes the pyramid, like an ancient calling. A calling to an ancient feud.

She would end the lives of these scientists and mercenaries swiftly and painlessly…when they arrived at the island.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _A few hundred meters from the moon_

The alien ship silently flew passed Earth's natural satellite. Within the armory, three masks silently watched as the holographic pyramid sprang to life. The pyramid was down-sized to a corner of the hologram, and a line was created from it to the ship.

A trajectory.

The alien ship's cannon began to glow red…before shooting a beam of plasma straight through Earth's atmosphere and through the ice, carving out a perfect path right down to the Hunting Grounds.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Unknown forested location_

The Goddess Artemis sat alone on the edge of a cliff that stood high above the churning sea. It was night time, and her Symbol of Power shined brightly above.

Her usual bright, silver eyes now glowed a faint red, however. Just like the moon. A century had passed since last Yautja hunt, and it was time for the Young-Bloods to prove themselves worthy once more.

Artemis smirked to herself when she thought of the alien race. While it was predominantly male, they were not like the humans of this world. Male Yautja thought not of superiority of their sex, but of the glory that their trophies brought. The same for the females. Instead of judging each other based on aesthetic and monetary values as it seemed most humans did these days, Yautja found mates based size, strength, honor, and trophies.

In their society, you were either a good hunter, or you made weapons.

"My lady, thou have been sitting there for some time. Is everything well?"

Artemis was broken from her musings as her lieutenant made her presence known. Copper skin, volcanic-black eyes, brown hair pulled into a pony-tail, dressed in the usual silver parka, and a silver circlet around her head. Zoё Nightshade was quite beautiful for a thousand's-of-years old girl.

Immortality did have its benefits.

"Yes, Zoё, I'm fine. Tell me, lieutenant, do you know the date?"

"It's October 10, 2004. Why doth thou ask?"

Artemis smiled softly at Zoё's obliviousness, "What happens on this date every century?"

Volcanic eyes widened in realization, "The Yautja are coming back?" She sounded excited. Then again, the daughter of Atlas always had enjoyed the hunts with the Hunter-aliens.

"Indeed they are."

"Art we going to watch them like we usually do, M'lady?"

Artemis smiled at her excited lieutenant, "Of course we are. Every hundred years they come, and every hundred years we watch via the moon. Why would this year be any different?"

Zoё took a calming breath, "I'll inform the rest of the Hunt of this evening's activities."

As the Huntress left, the smile fell from Artemis' face, _'It's been eleven years since your birth, Perseus Jackson, and you've managed to hide from every god and goddess on Olympus, even_ _me_ _, the Goddess of Hunting. While tonight should have nothing to do with you, I can't shake the feeling that you will be involved in some way…'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Damn! It! All!

What other pantheon had to deal with this crap!?

Percy was not ready. Luke was not ready. Kronos was getting there, but not quite. The events of the Great Prophecy were not yet ready to be unraveled, but it seemed that the very _universe_ was against them. Hiding the Percy from her father ( _while he was at_ _sea_ ) was hard-fucking-enough, now they had to block Artemis from using her _Symbol of Power_ as a TV screen *pause for mental breath* _to watch a grudge-match between Subject 3 and a trio of Predators!_

Finishing their mental rant, the Fates grew even more depressed because _that event_ was due to happen in less than 48 hours. Damage control was already through the roof…now it was about sail through the moon.

No pun intended.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Everybody listen up!" Alexa Woods said loudly, getting the attention of all those currently in the loading bay. "Gather 'round."

Under his breath, Graeme Miller told Sebastian de Rosa, "I told you she'd stay. She can't resist my animal magnetism." He had a thick accent. De Rosa gave him a strange look.

"Laugh it up Miller, laugh it up," interrupted Mark Verheiden.

"Gentlemen," Lex scolded. Now with everyone's attention, she said, "It is my job to keep you alive on this expedition…and I need your help to do that. Since I don't have time to properly train you, I'm laying down three simple rules. One, no one goes anywhere alone, _ever._ Two, everyone must maintain constant communication. Three, unexpected things are going to happen…when they do, no tries to be a hero. Understood?" There were multiple nods and a few muffled affirmatives.

Lex sent a pointed look at Verheiden, " _Understood?"_

The man hesitated before responding loudly, "Yes ma'am."

Lex smiled, "Good."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lex approached Adele Rousseau, who was currently loading a pistol clip, "Seven seasons on the ice, and I've never seen a gun save a someone's life."

"I don't plan on using it," Rousseau answered as she holstered her weapon.

"The why bring it?"

Rousseau considered for a moment, "Same principle as a condom. I'd rather have one and not need it…then need it, and not have it." Lex grinned at her friend's reasoning. "I'm glad you decided to stay."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A convoy of snow trucks rumbled across the ice. Within one, Lex and Sebastian were getting to know each other.

"What's with the bottle cap?" Lex asked.

Sebastian stopped playing with it. "What?" he asked dumbly.

"What's with the bottle cap?" she repeated.

"Oh…this is a 'valuable archeological find.'" Lex giggled lightly at his sarcastic response. Sebastian flicked his bottle cap before looking outside the window at the moon, "When I was a kid growing up in Italy, you know what they call a moon that big?"

Lex hummed.

" _La Luna del cacciatore."_

Lex valiantly repeated the phrase, close enough that Sebastian congratulated her. "What's that?" she asked.

The Italian leaned in, "Hunter's moon."

How ominous.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With all of the scientists gone, Subject 3 went to town on the remaining crew members. Cutting the main power to give herself an environmental advantage, she made the next thirty-eight kills quick and painless. There was no reason to drag this out. They were all victims of circumstance, at the wrong place at the wrong time.

But no one could know of this location, or bear witness to closely approaching battle. No one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gathering at the cliff, the expedition watched as Lex fired off a flare, illuminating the abyss below, "It's an abandoned whaling station. According to your satellite imagery, Mr. Weyland, the pyramid is located directly beneath it."

Weyland took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After somehow getting the trucks that were loaded with the drilling equipment down into the station, Maxwell Stafford got out and began giving orders, "We'll use this place as a basecamp. Mr. Quinn, begin drilling operations as soon as you can."

"I'm on it. Okay guys. Let's move out." Quinn headed back to galvanize the men.

Sometime later, Stafford, Weyland, and Miller were walking through the station. Stafford lit a flare, painting the snow a deep red color. The trio observed their surroundings, taking note of how everything was strewn about the place. They it was abandoned, as in left alone for many decades, but this looked like the whalers dropped everything and ran.

Strange.

Miller, a naturally curious little man, decided to some exploring of his own. Breaking away from the other two, the man wondered backward before lighting his own flare. Walking around for a bit, Miller found a shed he wanted to enter.

With great effort, he pried the door open, the light from his flare casting an ominous glow through the shed. The flare light faded, so Miller turned on his flashlight, and began to look around. What caught his attention most was dinner ware that was left out…as if just before a meal.

Miller grinned as he went over to examine the plates and cups. He set his light down and attempted to grasp the handle of a cup…only for the hundred-year-old frozen china to snap off. "Oh," he said in surprise.

"One for _National Geographic._ " He put his camera up on a shelf, ready for a picture. The flash went off, and the sound of rattling metal had Miller whirling around, his heart skipping a beat. He slowly moved his light around, his breathing rapidly increasing because of his fear.

The fear of the unknown.

Miller heard the sound of movement once more, this time to his left. He trained the flashlight in that direction, searching for the cause of the disturbances. He backed up, slowly turning his body-

CLANG!

Miller jumped in fright when he hit the metal pots and pans above him. Taking several deep breathes to calm his racing nerves once more, Miller began to steadily take more steps back. Rustling was heard _right behind_ him and he swiveled around, desperately trying to find what was terrorizing him so.

Steeling his nerves, he looked around the table that was blocking his vision. Seeing nothing, Miller began to retreat, survival instincts demanding that he leave. He took one step…two steps…three steps.

 _Then something touched him._

Oh, it was just Lex. "No one…goes anywhere…alone," she said slowly. Miller shushed her midsentence though, "Shhhh…there's something there. Listen."

Lex looked at where Miller had pointed, her own curiosity showing. They heard a squawking noise, before a cute little penguin came waddling by. The two chuckled to themselves, before Lex said to Miller, "Careful. They bite."

The penguin looked at the two humans, before it's tiny eyes widened when it saw what was _behind_ them.

Miller and Lex watched as the penguin scrambled under a nearby table. Lex opened her mouth to say that they needed to get back to the others…only for something large, white, and covered in blood to erupt through where Miller's heart used to be. The man gurgled, his hands reaching up to touch it, only for them to lock in place. Blood dripped from his mouth as he shakily looked at the shell-shocked Lex.

The blade was suddenly taken out with sickening squelching noise. Miller fell face-first in a lifeless heap. That was when Lex saw the thing that had just killed her friend. Skin white as the snow around them, red-covered tail pointed at her, and green eyes with slit-pupils, suspended in pools of darkness.

Lex's mouth opened to scream…but it never came out.

It was hard to talk with a bladed tail spearing your larynx.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sebastian noticed some debris and went to investigate. What he found had him calling out to the other's. Weyland, Quin, and Stafford quickly came to stand by him, staring at the giant ice tunnel. Gathering some equipment, Quin through a flare down the ice, the machine mapping it at a perfect 30-degree-angle. Looking behind them, they noticed the top of some of the buildings had curved roofs that lined up perfectly with the tunnel.

Tracking the flare, they noted that it went all the way down to the pyramid. Something far beyond any human technological feat. Weyland asked Quin if there was anything that could make such a tunnel. The answer was no. Weyland summarized that the only way to find out if another team was present, was to get down to the pyramid to see for themselves.

Looking around, Sebastian noticed two very important people missing from the group, "Where are Lex and Miller?"

Quin, Weyland, and Stafford noticed their absence as well, their heads turning in every direction to find their missing companions. They were milliseconds from racing back to basecamp to organize a search…when the sound of screaming tore through the frozen air.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What happened," Weyland yelled upon arrival.

The men were huddled around one of the snow-trucks, something keeping their attention. Pushing through the crowd, the billionaire saw what the cause of the commotion was: a corpse with a hole in his head.

"How did this happen?" Stafford questioned.

Nervously, some answered, "We don't know. One second he's unloading the truck, the next he's doubling over like a baseball hit his head or something. I went over to check on him, but…" the man trailed off. It was clear he was the one that had screamed.

Weyland was about to start barking orders and directions, but Sebastian suddenly pitched forward, facedown into the snow, a new opening in the back of his head. Before panic could ensue, three more men were dropped by an unseen force, this time from a different angle.

That could only mean one plausible thing… "Sniper!"

Like roaches under a light, all of the men took off running in several different directions, trying to escape. As Stafford pulled Weyland behind cover, the old man began to think about the situation.

A sniper team was plausible. A rival expedition looking to claim the pyramid for themselves, and eliminate anyone already there. But the holes in that theory were obvious: point A was that Weyland's team just got there, so that would mean the snipers had only just arrived. Point B was that these people had gotten here first, which was impossible because Weyland had checked with all of his corporate spies to keep tabs on competition, and the team he assembled would've seen any activity upon arrival.

Speaking of team, where were Miller and Woods?

A seed of dread bloomed in Weyland's chest. The people shooting must have killed them first. Wait…shooting…there were no more people dying. Where were the snipers?

Weyland wasn't the only one that noticed the lack of activity. "Verheiden!" Stafford barked. "Get the guns!" The man nodded and sprinted to the truck that carried their emergency weapons. Unloading a number of cases, Verheiden threw them to the personnel trained to handle this type of firearm.

The men unloaded the cases, revealing the G36C's hidden within. They checked the clips, pulled the bolts, and activated the laser sights. Razorback Point was suddenly covered in green beams. Verheiden was the last to grab an assault rifle…and he was the first to die in the next onslaught.

Weyland watched in a combination of horror and fascination as something small, white, and lethal leapt from the roof of a shed, landing on Verheiden with enough force to send snow flying into the air, obscuring what happened.

Stafford was about to open fire into the plume, but the billionaire shoved the barrel down. "Don't. You'll those on the other side." That's when Weyland realized that the creature had intentionally done that in order to set up a crossfire.

Gun fire and screams filled the air once again, and when bullets began to whiz by his head, Stafford pulled Weyland away from where they were, this time to behind a shed. The others hiding nearby quickly followed. Surrounding their benefactor in a protective circle, the group heard the sound of tearing flesh, the gunfire dying out. Weyland took this time to take a puff from his inhaler.

All was silent until… _CRUNCH!_

The men all jumped when something impacted the snow behind them. The powder fell back to the earth, revealing the creature within. A little over five feet, skin whiter than the snow, completely naked, revealing female genitalia and budding breasts. Long 'hair,' longer tail, and eyes that pierced their very souls.

What drew the attention the most, was the red liquid covering the hands, the tip of the tale, and the mouth.

One man screamed to high-heaven and unloaded his gun, the others, even Stafford, did the same. Their weapons had the same effect as marshmallow blasters.

The girl's tail twitched, and only Weyland and Stafford reacted in time to duck. The rest were decapitated in a violent flash of white, blood splattering all over the whaling station's banner.

Stafford growled before ditching his gun and pulling out his knife. "Run, sir! Get back to the boat!"

The billionaire wasted no time in doing just that, his experience telling him it would be futile to argue. Besides, he had to get back to civilization, make plans on how to capture the girl, and study it. Oh, the things they would accomplish by unlocking the secrets of the pyramid _and_ the creature!

He would go down in history as an archeological and genetic pioneer!

"AHHHHHH!"

Weyland didn't even break his stride when Stafford's scream split the cold night air, nor did the sight of corpses make him pause. Scrambling into a still-running truck, the billionaire wasted no time in jerking the wheel and gunning the motor. The truck took off with a lurch.

A sigh of relief escaped Weyland's mouth. It was smooth driving from here. Stafford's sacrifice had bought him enough time to load up and drive off. Now, all he had to do was get to the boat, arm everyone, and sail off back to the mainland-

THUMP

"Mother fu-!"

Weyland was ripped out of the truck via something pulling him through the door. He landed in the unforgiving snow with enough force to break his ribs and crack his spine. He was paralyzed.

He took wheezing breaths, vaguely aware of the truck careening straight into a shed and exploding. His eyes widened when the creature emerged from the wreckage, her white body wreathed in fire. Weyland blinked, and the creature was standing over him.

Sea green stared deep into hazel, the crimson moon glowing brightly above. The girl's mouth opened impossibly wide, revealing translucent teeth, elongated canines, and black tissues. Weyland saw something green bubbling up at the back of her throat, his widening in terror upon realizing what was coming.

Before he died, the founder of Weyland Industries heard a young, female voice say in his head, _'Foolish old man.'_

The he was burning…then he was nothing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Perhaps in a manner of repeating history, Adele Rousseau stumbled through Razorback Point, frantically looking behind her. Whatever that _thing_ was, she wanted no part of it. Unlike the others, she had gone looking for Miller and Woods…and had been successful. The fear and panic in her body was only amplified when the sound of yelling and gunfire tore through the whaling station.

Rushing to the scene, Rousseau arrived just in time to see a man split down the middle by what looked like a white, bony tail. That had been enough to send the Frenchie packing for somewhere to hide.

Then there was an explosion on the way back to the boat, and that was enough to send Rousseau in the other direction. Now her panic-induced, fear-filled mind was having trouble deciding where lay low, the large number of sheds and bunkhouses confusing her to no end.

Finally catching sight of a partially open door, Rousseau clambered up to it, using her muscles to pry the door further open. Her instincts then demanded that the turn around. Upon doing so, she had a split second to register the most horrifying set of eyes she had ever seen, before she was sent flying through the air.

In a mix kinetic impact and pure terror, the woman's bladder released itself into her pants.

Not even aware of her accident, Rousseau desperately un-holstered her sidearm, only to drop it into the snow. Springing up only to fall back down. Rousseau glanced up, seeing the blood-covered demon approaching, and quickened the search for her weapon. She found it and immediately snapped up, pointing the barrel forward…right into monster's navel.

Rousseau squeaked before something tore a hole through her chest, right through her heart. Instant death.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 sat cross-legged on top of the tallest building of Razorback Point, her tail spiraling loosely around her body, her back ramrod straight, her hands in her lap.

Now that her first 'task' was complete, there was no need to camouflage her body, so she let her exoskeleton return to base color. This was also the time to think. During her extermination, she had felt the Yautja ship pass over, and a few moments later felt the impact of the three pods.

The Yautja were currently sprinting towards here at an impressive pace of fiftyish miles an hour. The trio would arrive sometime in the next ten minutes based on their current pace.

That allowed time to prepare, time to think.

The first thing she thought about was the ungodly feeling of being watched. Sure, Janssen and Groves were probably having a field day from their satellite feed, but this feeling…it felt like multiple pairs of eyes were watching with opened-mouth shock.

Turning her slitted eyes to the crimson moon above, the nagging feeling strengthened.

Shaking the feeling off, Subject 3's thoughts moved onto another matter: the approaching battle. God, she felt something stir deep within her, something that she had never felt before: exhilaration. She was _excited_ about the confrontation ahead. The chance for a challenge, the chance to truly test her strength, _her power!_

No more rolling over opponents, no more waltzing over a floor of corpses, no more dominating the arena. No, this time she would have a fight. Her skills and ability would be tested tonight like they never were before, perhaps never will be again.

And when she got back to the mainland…

CL-L-L-L-CK

Sea green eyes zeroed in on a nearby rooftop. Standing on top of the roof were three distortions in the air, outlined in red. A buzzing sound filled the air as the Yautja de-cloaked, revealing their well-armed and armored forms. They were tall, and extremely muscular. Their bio-masks covered their faces, hiding their feature from view.

The left Predator's mask was simple in design. The middle one's mask was more intricate. The right one's mask was similar to the left one, only less mean.

S-3 could feel the Predators cycling through vision modes, determining what she was, and if she would make for worthy prey. Well, there was a simple way of deciding for them.

The daughter of Poseidon exploded from her position on the roof, tackling the middle Predator into the snow below. They landed with jarring force, but the Predator recovered quicker. Subject 3 was thrown off of the hunter.

Her feet skidded through the snow, before she came to a stop. Her electro-location and seismic-sensing detected that the left Predator had made a run for the pyramid, no doubt to retrieve the plasma casters. Yeah, how about no.

Taking off from her position in the snow, Subject 3 easily caught up to the Predator due to her superior speed. She approached form the side, on a path that would have made NFL linebackers proud. However, instincts flared and S-3 leapt up and twisted to avoid the Smart Disc that the right Predator had thrown. Unfortunately, that momentary distraction had given the fleeing Predator enough time to hop down the tunnel.

Very well then. Two on one? That sounded fair.

The Predator with the intricate mask and the Predator with the plain mask, Subject 3 decided to call them Celtic and Wave, approached her with bravado. Celtic's wrist blades descended, and he brought them forward with his signature clicks. Wave pulled his combi stick frim his back, and extended it with a few jerks of his wrist before gripping it with both hands.

Subject 3 also made a display. She hunched over, her legs spread and slightly bent, her arms spread wide, claws forward, and her tail pointed at the Celtic Predator. Her teeth were bared at the Predators, saliva dripping from her lips.

A primal instinct deep within her body told her to fight, and to win…by any means necessary. That was something Poseidon's daughter had no qualms about doing.

The Predators cycled through vision modes once more. Infrared, X-ray, cardiovascular, nervous, ultra-violet, gamma-ray, a plethora of different spectrums…before they came to the perfect one. A vision mode that filtered the light-waves that bounced off of a specific species.

EM vision.

Subject 3 was suddenly glowing green. Celtic roared and charged straight forward in a head-on assault, his powerful legs kicking up plumes of snow. S-3 shrieked on leapt forward in challenge. The two powerful creatures met in a bone-jarring clash.

Instinct vs training.

Celtic rammed into the girl's body in a manner similar to that of a football player. Wrapping his massive arms around the slimmer waist, Celtic turned and began to ram Subject 3 through the buildings, each wall smashed only served to further the hybrid's ire. After the fourth wall was destroyed, her tail slashed across the Predator's unprotected ligaments.

The two went sprawling to the ground, Celtic landing on his knees.

Subject 3 popped up, and spun around, backhanding the dazed Yautja. Celtic's head snapped to the side, but his neck did not break. Subject 3 curled that same hand and swung for a devastating haymaker, only for Celtic's arm to snap up, stopping her arm cold. Celtic's left went for an uppercut, only for S-3's right to grab his fist. The girl slammed her head into the Predator's bio-mask.

Truly dazed from the blow, Celtic instinctively brought his arms up to cradle his skull. It was not enough to protect him from the powerful blows to his ears made from Subject 3's hands. Celtic's eardrums ruptured, fluorescent green dripping down the side of his head.

The hybrid swiped left, then right, drawing twin claw marks across the bio-mask. The third swipe ripped the mask off entirely. Celtic gasped as oxygen entered his lungs. It wouldn't be fatal, not yet. Without the altered vision of his mask, the world turned a blurry red.

Subject 3 was about to deliver the killing blow, only to handspring backwards to avoid the combi stick. Wave burst into the building, bulldozing through furniture and other things. The Predator reeled his arm back, his Wrist Gauntlet charged with power, and thrust it forward.

The hybrid reacted in time to bring her arms in front of her to form a defense, but Wave's strike blew her out of the building.

Wave turned to look at his fellow Young Blood. Celtic reached for his belt and pulled out a small cylinder. He gripped the tube with both hands before twisting, revealing the blue shards on the inside. With a microsecond of hesitation, Celtic stabbed himself with the shards.

His roar of pain made Wave cover his ears.

Recovering from the deafening sound, Wave retrieved his combi stick. Not waiting for his brother to regain his strength (The Health Shards accelerated the healing the process, but damn did they hurt), Wave promptly hopped out the hole he punched the Serpent-girl through. Dropping two feet to the ground below, the Predator was suddenly picked up by his head, which really hurt, and thrown backwards over the building he just came out of.

His combi stick was lost from his grip.

Landing on his front, his armor and powerful muscles absorbing most of the damage, on the opposite side of the building, Wave stood up with a growl. The Serpent-girl landed in front of him, his extended combi stick held in her grasp.

The girl let out a brief screech, before her tail whipped out behind her, destroying the foundation of the building. The entire structure came crashing down, burying Celtic alive. In his current condition, the Predator was going to have hell digging out of that.

Wave was on his own…for now.

In a manner unbefitting that of a Serpent, the girl tossed Wave's combi stick back to him. Deftly catching the weapon, the Predator made an impressive display of spinning and twirling the combi stick, a display that ended with one end pointed at the Serpent-girl.

Subject 3 lashed out with her tail, the Predator batting it aside. This process repeated a few times, each strike growing faster, harder. Each time, Wave was pressed even more to parry. Eventually, Wave's reflexes were worn down, and he was too slow to parry the strike that pierced his right leg.

The Predator roared and fell to his knee, his hand reaching down to stem the blood-flow. Then his head snapped up just in time to see a small fist collide with his bio-mask, sending him skidding across the snow, his combi stick once again lost form his grip. Wave's momentary daze was enough for Subject 3 to capitalize on.

Leaping the thirty-foot distance instantly, the hybrid dug her claws _deep_ into the exposed flesh in the arms of the Predator. His roar echoed through the crimson-lit night. Subject 3 raised her tail in preparation to spear Wave's head…but the reflection in his bio-mask's lenses made her flip backward.

Just in time to avoid the Smart Disc.

The Disc curved in midair, coming right back at Subject 3. A quick shot of molecular acid sent the Disc melting into the snow. An obvious distraction, because Wave predictably lurched forward in an attempt to catch her off-guard…only to be impaled through the stomach by her tail.

The Predator shuddered as the cold feeling of death began to seep into his bones. Subject 3 pulled her tail back, bringing Wave closer to her face. Sea green eyes stared into grey lenses.

SCHING

Subject 3 froze as a foreign feeling erupted from her abdomen. Looking down, she saw the strangest sight…the Predator's wrist-blades were _piercing_ through her body, her blood dripping from the blades and the wounds, causing the snow to hiss and steam. Amazingly, the metal that made up the wrist-blades wasn't being corroded by her blood. Interesting.

Even more interesting, the red glow of the moon seemed to intensify, as if it was _shocked_ by what it was seeing. That feeling of being watched returned once more. Strange…despite being stabbed, she didn't feel any…pain. Like when she was shot, she felt the impact, but it didn't hurt.

This was like that.

Subject 3 growled at the same time Wave did. The hybrid grabbed the Predator's arms, and struggled to pull them out. She succeeded, and the holes in her body closed. For the first time in her eleven years of life, Poseidon's daughter felt the experience known as 'tickling.'

Wave was growing weaker. The tail buried in his guts was causing him to lose too much blood, his consciousness fading. Celtic was still trapped under the shed, and Scar still hadn't made it back from the pyramid with their Plasma Casters.

In a last ditch effort to kill the Serpent-girl, he stabbed her through the intestines. It had no effect. With his strength waning, the Serpent-girl had pulled his arms out, and held them out to her sides.

Her tail stabbing Wave's stomach, her arms holding his wrist-blades away, and her legs holding her up, that only left her mouth. Subject 3's jaws opened wide…and clamped down on the Predator's throat. The hybrid jerked her head back, bringing the Hunter's neck with it, painting her face fluorescent green.

Subject 3 let Wave's arms go, the Yautja's heavy body falling lifelessly into the snow.

It was at this moment that Celtic rose from the rubble with a monstrous yell, lightning flashing above. The Predator quickly surveyed his surroundings, zeroing in on the forms of the Serpent-girl…and his fallen brother.

With a roar of vengeance, Celtic charged at the Abomination, fully intent on killing her. Subject 3 glanced down at her feet…right at the combi stick. In a motion too fast for the human eye to register, she grabbed the weapon and hurled it at the Predator. Celtic jerked his upper-body to the side, the combi stick passing _inches_ from his bio-mask.

Then something slammed into him with enough force to make his armor spark.

Celtic used the momentum from the strike to roll into a standing position, coming face-to-face with Death. Subject 3 used her tail like a jackhammer, rapidly stabbing the Predator in the torso, tearing through his armor like tissue paper. She stabbed him through one final time, before using her tail to _throw_ the Yautja over her shoulder, the impact shattering Celtic's jaw.

His mind exploding with pain, his body completely unresponsive, the primal instinct of Flight-or-Fight overriding his soul. Desperately trying to crawl away, his life fluid painting the snow green, Celtic knew his life was over when the Serpent-girl crawled on top of him.

Looking up, he saw that the tunnel leading down to the Hunting Grounds was only a few hundred feet away. Looking back, he saw the Serpent-girl's tail descending.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bright green stained her hands, her tail, and her face. That was…that was…that was the most amazing thing she had ever done. The way those two fought, the way they moved, the way they coordinated. From the very beginning she knew that fighting them as a group would be suicide, so splitting them up was key. She just didn't expect it to be so easy. One of them ran off, the other one tackled her through buildings, and the last one had to find where they were.

Speaking of the one who ran off…

BZZT

BZZT

Subject 3 leapt high into the air to avoid the plasma bolts that exploded when they hit the snow.

BZZT

BZZT

She blitzed behind a shed when she landed, narrowly avoiding the next two bolts.

BZZT

BZZT

Two more bolts blew up the shed she was hiding behind, but now she had entered the maze, hidden from view. Safe from the final Predator's sight, Subject 3 analyzed the threat. Instead of one plasma caster, this one had equipped two. Dual wrist-blades, combi stick, three Smart Discs, health shards, plasma mines, medical pack, and ceremonial knife.

And a deep-rooted desire to kill her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **I think 8k words is enough to excuse my tardiness. It would've been longer, but I decided to cut it here. The next chapter will finish the fight and will probably make all of you hate me, but hey. Win some, lose some.**_

 _ **The next update is indefinite because I'm going through some tough shit in life right now, it's the reason this was so late.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	12. Aliens vs Predator: Pt 2

_Alien vs. Predator: Pt 2_

 _ **Good news! Life has straightened out. Also, TRIPPLE DIGIT REVIEWS!**_

 _ **All right, part two of the epic fight. Here, we will be exploring more of the Hunters of Artemis, some action back at the School, and of course: brutal combat.**_

 _ **Also in this chapter, the Alien Queen will be introduced, and I think y'all will like what I have planned for her and our darling little anti-hero.**_

 _ **However, none of you seemed to pick up on the rather dark foreshadowing last chapter. Whether or not you did, be prepared for a tragic plot-twist.**_

 _ **Bottoms up!**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The light reflected off of Jeb Batchelder's glasses, hiding his eyes from view, but if you were to glance into them from the side, you would be frightened by the fire that burned within.

The white-coat stalked through the halls like a predator approaching its prey. His destination? The cell where the Flock was being held hostage.

The two Erasers standing guard were dressed in full Juggernaut-armor, armed with full-auto AA12 shotguns, and equipped with bombs…for whatever reason. They had orders not to move from their positions in front of the cell door for any reason…well, unless told to by a very high-up individual.

Like Jeb.

"Leave us." His voice brokered no argument, and promised death upon defiance. The Erasers nodded and walked away. Punching in the door code, Jeb entered the cell, automatic lights illuminating the space.

It was little more than a supply closet: eight feet tall, five feet wide, and ten feet deep, with six avian hybrids crammed in like sardines. Collars were strapped to their necks, the ones that exploded when a button was pressed. They all got up from their sitting or lying positions when Jeb came in.

"We're leaving."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Artemis and her Hunters were in a state of near-catatonic shock. The things they just witnessed…unbelievable. Horrifying, even. It was bad enough knowing that all of those innocent people were about to die in a rather gruesome way (most of them were men, though, so it was fine), but…Jesus.

The brutality, the ruthless efficiency, the _power._

That girl…tail, claws, super strength and speed, regeneration, impeccable fighting capability, and a complete disregard for human life. Not to mention her other attributes. Camouflaging skin that was also bullet proof, a natural hunting prowess that dominated the men like the Hunters dominated those at Camp Half-Blood, and the fact that she spits and bleeds _acid._ Then there were her eyes…her sea green eyes.

On a smaller note, there was also the fact she was naked and looked about eleven years old.

"M-my Lady…?"

Artemis nodded her head dumbly at the newest addition to her Hunt, "Yes?"

"Who is she?" asked the fifty-eights seconds, fifty-five minutes, twenty-three hours, three-hundred-and-sixty-four days, and fifteen-years-old Thalia Grace.

Silver eyes narrowed in thought. There was only one god Artemis could think of that could produce offspring with that shade green for eyes. The main problem with her theory was that Poseidon's child had been born with a penis…not the vagina that this girl blatantly showed. "I think, Thalia, that the girl…is Poseidon's daughter."

There were sharp intakes of breath, widened eyes, and some poor girl actually fainted. The Hunters had spent literal _years_ searching for Poseidon's son…only to find out that _he_ was actually a _she_!?

"But, my Lady," Thalia spluttered, "I thought that my cousin was a boy?"

Artemis nodded in agreement. "Take my words with a grain of salt, my Huntresses. My theory is only based on the girl's eye color. It is entirely possible that whoever or whatever this child is, her green eyes could be just a coincidence. Besides, take note of her appearance. Mortal science has advanced much in recent decades, and this could be one of their creations."

Zoё stood up, "Regardless of whether or not the girl is Poseidon's or man's, it's clear that the mortals have made her into a weapon. I cannot stand by and watch as a maiden is used in such a way."

Other Huntresses began to stand as well, their hands gripping their bows.

Artemis smiled at her surrogate daughters' determination. She had taught them well. But a rescue would have to wait.

"I admire your passion, Lieutenant, and rest assured, all of you, that we will rescue this child, but now. She is locked in a battle that demands on a primal level that she fights the Yautja. And there is only one other species I can think of that fights against them with such vigor."

"The Kainde Amedha," Zoё breathed.

Artemis nodded gravely, "By method of perverse science, this girl has been turned into a hybrid between the two species. Now be silent, the battle is about to resume."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There were many ways Subject 3 could go about doing this.

First and most obvious was to use stealth to get in close and deliver a swift and decisive killing blow. The second way was to use long-range tactics: her extendable tail, acid spews, and projectile claws. The third way was to use some mind manipulation, try to wrestle control of the Predator's mind and force him to commit suicide. The fourth way was perhaps the most unfair: use her seismic powers and send him down into the depths below. The fifth way, use the munitions left by Celtic and Wave, i.e. their Smart Discs, combi sticks, mines and knives. The sixth way was to rig a bunch of traps and lure the Predator into them.

Then there was the seventh way. Upfront, balls-to-the-wall, see-what you're-made-of, mud-slinging, spit-flying, hair-pulling, life-or-death, one-on-one, all-or-nothing…fist fighting. Subject 3 _used_ to have testicles, but those plasma casters were going to be one helluva problem.

With a grin of anticipation, the Godly/Human/Alien hybrid set out to prove her superiority for the final time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Leaving?" Max asked disbelievingly. "Without Three?"

Jeb nodded gravely, "Subject 3 is perfectly capable of surviving on her own. Once she returns and finds out that we have left, she will quickly escape herself. I doubt it will be very long before she finds us."

"Yeah, but…we can't just leave without her. She helped make our escape plan, leaving before she's back just feels… _wrong._ " Iggy said.

Jeb wasn't budging, "The Director and Groves have left, and with them most of the Erasers. Right now, the School is least secure it's ever been. Now is the perfect time to leave. You think Subject 3 has stayed here because she felt like it? The only thing that kept her here for the past year was all of you. Without you here, she will quickly destroy this facility, and find us. Then we'll all be able to begin new lives," he finished with a sincere smile, straight from his heart.

"But-" Max began to protest, but she was cut off by Angel, "No, he's right. The plan we had S-3 was good, but there too many variables, too many things that would and could go wrong. Jeb knows the security codes and guard patrol routes, easily giving us access to freedom. Besides, Subject 3 can get out of here on her own. Now, let's go!" She cheered and raced down the hallway.

Max face palmed. Leave it to the chibi-telepath to act all serious one second, and then completely juvenile the next. "Well you heard our mascot. Let's go."

Jeb and grinned and sped down the hallway, his children hot on his heels.

A few lies and security requests had most of the Erasers elsewhere in the School, those still around could be either avoided or neutralized without much problem. Jeb had also taken the liberty of setting the security cameras on a video loop, making him and the Flock invisible. The white-coat personnel was limited today, anyone here was either in the middle of an experiment, or watching porn on their computers.

And there was always the silenced M9 in his coat pocket.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scar's wrist blades extended with contained fury. Bio-mask set to EM vision, tri-dot laser sight roaming over the sheds and snow, expandable Smart Discs (new design) in both hands, and Plasma Casters set to fire at a moment's notice, the lone Predator entered the maze of wood and steel.

Legs bent and arms forward, Scar was constantly on a swivel, searching for the Serpent-girl, and making sure she didn't sneak up on him. The shared feed from his fallen brothers' bio-masks showed that the Serpent-girl was very skilled, and very smart. In this environment, if the Serpent-girl was anything else like the Serpents, she had the home-advantage.

A guttural sound rolled out from Scar's bio-mask.

WHOOSH

The Predator whirled around and fired off a plasma blast, blowing up a snow truck. The blast-wave from the igniting fuel sent Scar falling on to his armored behind. Instantly realizing the large amount of danger this position put him in, the Predator bolted to his feet with a roar of challenge, fully expecting the Serpent-girl to attack.

Huh. Nothing happened.

Scar whipped about, his EM vision painting the world varying shades of white and grey…but nothing glowed bright green. The amount of edge this put him on made Scar realize the Serpent-girl's current strategy: set his nerves on fire with psychological tactics and swoop in for the killing blow when he was jumpy enough to attack a penguin.

Calming himself and his mind, Scar entered a brief state of meditation. His breathing evened out, his heart rate slowed, his nerves returned to normal…and something jumped on top him.

Reflexes surged and Scar reached behind, gripping something thin and smooth. Oh good, the Serpent-girl. Roaring, he bent over and threw the abomination off of him before she could do any damage.

The Serpent-girl was sent sprawling in the snow, but she quickly popped back up…a combi stick in one hand, and something sparking in the other one.

His left Plasma Caster.

Scar turned to face his opponent with a diesel-like growl rumbling in his throat. The abomination hissed in response, crushing the Plasma Caster in her grip, the pieces falling to the snow. With two jerks of her arm, the combi stick extended to full length. Twirling it around, she pointed it at Scar's chest.

The burning truck casted dancing shadows across the snow.

Scar idly noted how the way he held his Smart Discs made them look like battle fans. A flick of his wrist sent them flying at the Serpent-girl. They were easily batted aside by the combi stick, but their purpose was served.

Distraction.

Scar was inside of the abomination's guard before the second Disc hit the snow, but instead of ramming into her, the Serpent-girl flipped over him. No matter, planting his foot he whirled around, wrist blade on a path to slice her in half.

Instead of tearing through flesh and bone, the Serpent-girl had positioned the combi stick to block the strike, but the force behind Scar's swing sent her skidding across the snow…mere feet from the burning truck.

 **[AvP 2010 OST: 6 vs Predators]**

Scar stalked forward, wrist blades held at his sides. Finally, vengeance would be his. He would kill this abomination and take her skull for his first trophy…and bring honor to his name and family.

The Predator took a fighting stance, and so did the Serpent-girl. Wrist blades against combi stick. Size against speed. Brawn and brains against less brawn and more brains. Training against instinct. An ancient blood-feud culminating in this moment, and forever more.

The two warriors began to circle each other, staring deep into each other's eyes. The snow crunched beneath their feet. There was no other sound at the moment, other than the sound of a calmly burning fire. Predator and Alien both felt the heat on one side of their bodies, and frigid cold on the other side. They came to a stop as they faced each other, parallel to the fire.

It was silent for a moment, before…

"ROOOOOOOOAR!"

"SHREEEEEEEEEEE!"

The two exploded into motion, snow flying into the air from the force. Combi stick clashed with wrist blades with a resounding cling. Scar used his superior height to use leverage and force the deadlock up, and Sparta-kicked the Serpent-girl in the face. Before she could go too far back, her hand snapped up and grabbed the extended leg. Her tail dug into the snow, halting her backwards momentum. The Serpent-girl dropped the combi stick, and used both arms to heave Scar up over her head…and then _slammed_ the Predator back down to the ground.

Scar ignored the pain in his back and rolled over, throwing a handful of snow into the Serpent-girl's face, temporarily blinding her eyes…but not her other senses. Scar rose and lunged with both wrist blades, aiming to tear through her heart and lungs, fully expecting an instant kill due to the distraction.

The Serpent-girl's arms shot up and spread Scar's arms out. Then she slammed her palms into the Predator's chest armor, denting it and launching him back. Scar recovered and ripped off the useless metal, exposing his muscular chest.

The Serpent-girl shot her tail at him, but in a moment of superb skill, Scar _grabbed_ the appendage in-between the blades, grabbing the cords of muscle (which caused _major_ discomfort to the abomination) and spun. He slammed her head into several buildings, before letting go and watching her spin through the air.

She slammed into the ground and rolled across the snow, before coming to a stop in front of the tunnel. The Serpent-girl stood up, wiping the acidic trail of blood from her mouth. Then she swiped her hands at Scar.

The Predator whipped his own combi stick from his back, extending it and spinning it, knocking the projectile claws straight out of the air. Beneath his bio-mask, Scar's eyes widened when he saw the Serpent-girl's arms extended…more claws sailing through the air.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In spite of herself, Subject 3 grinned. This was amazing! This Yautja put up a fight like no other opponent ever has. Not even the two other Yautja _together_ were this much of a challenge.

Arms extended, she kept firing her claws like bullets from a gun, their natural regeneration serving as ammunition. Scar proved his agility and precision by knocking them all out of the air. That was good; if these things did any damage, then the Predator would've been dead long ago.

Distraction served, Subject 3 dashed behind a nearby building at inhuman speed, scrambled up, darted across the roof, leapt high into the air, landed behind Scar, whirled around and had her punch blocked by a powerful pair of hands…all in about 1.92 seconds.

What followed next was a brutal display of Matrix style fist-fighting that the readers will have to picture in their minds for themselves because the author cannot write a swarm of punches, kicks, and blocks fast enough to make sense with the background music.

Scar knocked Subject 3 back with a powerful open-palm strike that slipped past the demigoddess' guard, but forgot to account for the girl's tail…again.

The bladed appendage caught the Predator's legs and pulled them from underneath him. The world slowed down as Subject 3 raced forward in slow motion, grabbed the airborne legs of Scar, and, in a moment of poetic irony, began to spin…very fast.

Now, this was a girl that had the muscular capability to throw around several-ton objects. At the moment, she was creating a small snow cyclone by spinning around with something that weighed four-five hundred-ish pounds. Might as well have been playing with a ragdoll.

And like the proverbial children's toy, Subject 3 launched the nauseous Predator clear across Razorback Point Whaling Station. Scar roared as he sailed high through the air, before crashing head first into the snow.

He didn't _die_ , but he was knocked out.

 **[End OST]**

Huh. The fight, starting from the moment they stared each other down, lasted about two-minutes-and-thirty-seconds.

Unfortunately, the impact from his impromptu flight had sent the Predator into the realm of dreams. That fact made it disgustingly easy to finish him off…something the hybrid did not want. She wanted this to end with combat, with an honorable-ish death.

Not with assassin-style murder! Now she would have to either wait for him to wake up, or wake him up herself. Neither option was overly appealing.

 _Come to me…_

Subject 3 froze as a foreign voice entered her mind. That shouldn't have been possible. A) there should've been no other telepaths anywhere near here, B) her pheromone, electro, seismic, and enhanced senses picked up _nothing_ out of the ordinary, and C) she developed telepathic shields to prevent Angel from accidentally seeing something she didn't need to see.

So what the hell?

 _Come to me, princess…_

Subject 3 froze. She admitted that there were many derogatory, horrifying, and unappealing adjectives that fit her perfectly, but _princess_ was not one of them. Princess was a term used for royalty, endearment, insult, and for making daughters feel special when their fathers called them that.

Subject 3 didn't know if she had a father, but she didn't really care to meet him if she did have one. The way the voice spoke, it was feminine, ancient, powerful in its own way, and was not being insulting when it called her 'princess.' Whatever the voice belonged to, it genuinely believed she was next in line for some type of title.

 _Let me show you where I am…_

Subject 3's vision suddenly zoomed all the way down the tunnel, lingering on the impressive pyramid below, then zooming up the steps into the structure, lingering on a spot in the floor, then zooming through the halls and passage ways, twisting, turning, descending until finally stopping briefly at the entrance to some type of chamber…

Lining the chamber were statues of kneeling Yautja with combi sticks held reverently in their hands. Then the stones at the back of the room began to pull apart, and the strange harness-like machine began to pull its load up. Shock rippled through the subconscious of Subject 3…suspended before her, held in chains and restraints, was a Xenomorph Queen covered in ice.

 _Come to me, princess, and free me…_

Then Subject 3 was back in her own body.

Okay, that was trippy, but it raised some question that were going to be answered. Rechecking the downed Predator, discovering he was still out, Subject 3 made her decision. The moon glowed red high above, and the feeling of being watched became more prevalent. Ignoring it, the hybrid hopped down the proverbial rabbit hole that was the perfect 30-degree-tunnel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"In-incredible…" Phoebe breathed. The other Huntresses nodded dumbly in agreement. That was the most amazing fighting any of them had ever seen. Even Artemis and Zoё were heavily impressed. The speed, the power, the brutality. Neither Yautja or mysterious girl were pulling any punches.

The Huntresses winced and cringed when the two slammed each other into the ground, the massive blows causing phantom feelings to crawl all over their bodies. They weren't sure who exactly they wanted to win in this fight, but for some reason they had cheered when the girl _hurled_ the Predator clear across the battlefield.

Then everyone except for Artemis grew confused when the girl suddenly froze…then took off down the tunnel to the pyramid.

' _Oh gods…the Matriarch,'_ Artemis thought with dread.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Racing through the pristine white halls, confident in his plan to escape to the mountains, Jeb was sweating bullets. It was…too easy. While most of everybody was supposed to be elsewhere, there were still supposed to be Erasers here and there.

He and the Flock had encountered none.

Asking Angel to do a quick sweep of the surrounding area, the young telepath said that there were only three people within a twenty-meter range watching a movie about a puppet, a typical Taco Bell bathroom, and the traps of Wile E Coyote combined with the terrifying puppetry of Jeff Dunham…

Moving on from that, the Flock plus Jeb quickly wound their way through the halls. Left, right, right, left, straight, another right, one more left. They came to a stop in front of a set of black, hydraulic doors, that really stood out against the white walls and lights.

Jeb took a breath, "Behind those doors is the motor pool. From there, we'll take a truck out to the helipad, where a copter is fueled and ready for takeoff. Angel, is there anyone on the other side?"

The avian closed her eyes, her cute face scrunching up in concentration. "I can't sense anyone…but…it feels like…something is blocking me…I feel all hazy trying to find anything," she said slowly.

Jeb didn't like that. Not at all…but they had come too far to give up now. Quickly pressing the right buttons on the key pad, the doors opened with a hiss. Like so many months ago, pitch-black darkness greeted the Flock.

Nudge whimpered.

"Uh, Jeb," Max said uncertainly, "is the motor pool supposed to be the color of Subject 3's skin?"

"No Maximum, it is not."

With a deep breath, Batchelder entered the encompassing abyss with his gun drawn, and glasses set to night-vision mode. With the world a glowing green…he and his children were suddenly blinded by the activating of many lights.

The sound of clicking guns reverberated around the massive stone cavern.

"Hello, _Father._ "

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sailing down the tunnel, her face inches away from scraping across the ice, was Subject 3. Seeing the end of the tunnel quickly approaching below, the hybrid flipped forward, then slammed her feet into the ice, pushing off with enough force to crack the frozen water and send her flying across the large cavern. Like a cat, she landed on all fours with her tail sticking straight up…right at the feet of the pyramid's stairs.

Standing up, she calmly walked up the steps into the ancient structure. While she could probably translate the hieroglyphics to reveal a rather interesting story about history (she did read Sebastian the Linguist's mind), Subject 3 was more interested about the cryogenic Queen a few hundred feet beneath her ass.

Making sure to step on the special panel just inside the entrance, Subject 3 was unsurprised when it sank into the floor, and sent a pulse of electricity straight down to what the girl assumed was the Queen's Chamber. She looked around with narrowed eyes when the pyramid rumbled, the sound of gears and chains reverberating around the stone.

Lovely, now she had to deal with an oversized Chinese-puzzle box.

Steeling her expression, Subject 3 delved deeper into the pyramid. Following the images that the Queen had telepathically shown her-something she was still trying to figure out-she wound her way through the halls at a leisurely pace. She was in no hurry at the moment.

After ten-ish minutes, Subject 3 paused when a deep rumbling echoed around her. Oh, the pyramid was shifting around. The girl rolled her sea green eyes as the wall to her left began to close in. Her powerful arm shot, stopping the moving stone _dead_. The entire pyramid groaned.

Hm. It seemed the entire structure operated by a single mechanism, and by stopping one part of it, the entire thing stopped. Well, if she wanted to meet an actual Queen instead of a bunch of pretenders, she would have to move on from holding the wall in place.

It wasn't like she couldn't move at hundreds of miles an hour, anyway.

Dropping her arm and speeding away before it started to move again, Subject 3 blurred through the shifting halls. Ducking, weaving, bobbing, spinning, diving, jumping, and finessing she went, until the pyramid stopped shifting…and she was in a room full of centuries-old cadavers.

The Sacrificial Chamber.

In the middle of the chamber, the was a manhole-like thing in the floor depicting what Subject 3 knew to be a Xenomorph. She saw them in her dream so many years ago. That manhole was covering a shaft that led down to the Yautja's plasma caster storage room. Eyes snapped up to the sound of moving stone. Ovomorphs were rising from the ends of the Chamber beds.

Subject 3 suddenly felt very conflicted about what happening.

Her instincts told her the children in the eggs needed to live, but she didn't feel like being face-raped at eleven years old by spider-squids that would 'knock her up' and the eggs implanted would try to blow her rib cage out. It was a conflict between her personal survival and the survival of her species.

An instinct demanded that she let them live.

Wait a second…would the Hatchling even be able to breed inside of her? Would it even be able to hatch? If it did, would she even die from it? Her regeneration had never really been tested, tonight being the first time _ever_ in her short life that it had been used. It had held up very nicely, but her entire chest? Not worth the risk.

One of the Ovomorphs opened up, Subject 3's eye twitched, and a Facehugger suddenly flew out of it, aiming for her face. Her hand shot up on pure reflex, intercepting the flying thing.

Her deadpan expression perfectly conveyed what she thought of Facehugger. Its tail had wrapped around her arm, (squeezing) it, and its spindly legs rapidly twitched in a desperate attempt to latch on to her head. From its slimy… _mouth_ …a proboscis emerged from the 'lips.'

It looked like a deformed penis emerging from a vagina.

Okay, screw the Miracle of Xenobirth. Subject 3 squeezed her hand, and the Facehugger went rigid. The sound of tearing flesh and crushing bone followed soon after. The creature's blood dripped to the floor, causing the ancient stone to hiss and steam as it was dissolved. Subject 3 dropped the tiny corpse, not caring that it also began to eat through the floor. She was more worried about the other Ovomorphs that were opening up.

The hybrid's tail went ramrod straight, and in a single spin, all Ovomorphs were destroyed, along with the Facehuggers inside of them. It made for quite the acidic mess. A primal scream of rage echoed throughout the pyramid.

Subject 3 could understand the Queen's pain. She would've been pissed off too if some stranger killed her children. The demigoddess also would've been lying is she said she didn't feel any guilt about what she just did. She did kill a bunch of infants after all.

But it ultimately tied down to them or her.

There correct choice was obvious.

Subject 3 moved aside the Xenomorph-manhole, and hopped down the shaft to the room below. She only glanced at the open chest that exuded a large amount of mist, where a single plasma caster, larger than Scar's, rested. Not like she could do anything with it.

Subject 3 resumed her trek through the halls that would've given most people claustrophobia. The air was rather damp and stale, but for someone who didn't need to _breath,_ the air quality meant absolutely nothing. By her mental calculations, only about six minutes had passed, so shifting walls and floors wouldn't be a problem…yet.

Checking her senses, she was intrigued to discover that there was another pulse of electricity that caused the Queen to create more Ovomorphs, which were then sent back up to the Sacrificial Chamber via a rather ingenious conveyer system.

Ah, so the Queen was being _forced_ to create her children, by the Predator's machine. Like a cow's udder was stroked for milk. Apparently, it was painful too.

Finally, Subject 3 made it to the Queen's Chamber…just in time for the pyramid to shift and the opening in which she just came to close up. Wonderful, now she was trapped in a room with a potentially hostile being.

Speaking of…

The Matriarch made for the most impressive sight Subject 3 had seen in her life, bar the Pretenders. Her massive, armored body, colored just the same as the hybrid's, a gigantic, ornate crest denoting her powerful status, dorsal spears further cementing her place in the hierarchy, and the large, light-brown ovipositor depositing the Ovomorphs onto a conveyer belt.

' _Greetings, Princess.'_

Subject 3's eye twitched, _'Why do you keep calling me 'princess'?'_

' _You were birthed directly from another Queen. Born to be her successor, the next Mother. By human standards, that makes you the princess of your Hive.'_

Well, that explained to uncomfortable feeling that's been increasingly annoying her the past few weeks originating from where her womb was supposed to be. Filing that away for later, Subject 3 asked, _'I got your message. Now that I'm down here, what do you want?'_

' _Freedom,'_ the Queen sounded as desperate as she did tired.

Subject 3 had a very high IQ. She had spent years reading the minds of men and women with PhDs in just about every subject known to man. She also had knowledge on some of the most disgusting, disturbing, and down-right sickening things on earth (who the hell found _scat porn_ arousing?). So, she considered herself very open-minded about many different things. It was this open-mindedness (and inherent distrust of just about everything that breathed) that brought doubt to the forefront of our antihero's mind.

' _Why are you chained up in the first place?'_

The Queen seemed sad. _'For sport. The Yautja captured me eons ago, and forced me into this machine. Every one-hundred years, they awaken me just so I can breed for them their prey: my children. Every century I am forced to watch and do nothing as the Yautja kill my children…just as you did a few minutes ago,'_ the Queen finished her monologue with an accusatory tone.

' _Forgive me, but being impregnated and subsequently killed didn't sound very appealing to me. And if you're expecting sympathy or pity from me because of your situation, you will be disappointed. I was never one for remorse anyway.'_

The Queen made a sound like laughing, _'Of course. Our species never was one for_ _remorse._ _'_

Subject 3 smiled wryly. _'You still haven't given me a good reason to free you yet.'_

' _I want to be free for the same reasons you do, princess. It is an instinct, a primal drive, to be free of any and all restraints. To be free to spread…and_ _live!_ _'_

Subject 3's eyes widened at the Queen's reasons. They were the exact same as her own. She wanted to be free of the School, to be with the Flock, to roam the world, _to see the ocean._

For the first time in her life, Poseidon's daughter felt a feeling that could only be described with one word: empathy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ari…why?" Jeb asked, dumbfounded by what his son was doing. The path to all of the vehicles had been blocked by a platoon of fully-armed Erasers, all of them pointing guns at the Flock. At the forefront of the giant firing wall was the son of Jeb Batchelder: Ari. The boy was only a few years younger than Max, but he looked to be in his early twenties. A side-effect of being turned into an artificial Eraser.

Ari grinned, his lengthened canines flashing. "Why, you ask?" the Eraser chuckled, "Orders of course. You see, Dad, the Director ain't stupid. She knew from the beginning that you would use this opportunity to try and escape with the _bargaining chips._ There was always the possibility that you wouldn't pull this stunt, but look at where we are."

"But how? Angel couldn't sense any of your presences!" Jeb cried. Behind him, the Flock had gone rigid, years of being lab rats instinctively making them tense and defensive, looking for escape routes. They found none.

Ari threw his head back and roared with laughter. That's when Jeb noticed the headband that gleamed on his son's forehead. "This little doohickey was designed and built by the Director herself…to counter Subject 3's telepathy. Seeing neither one are here right now, I thought it appropriate to give'em a test run. Seems they work just fine.

"But enough of this small talk"-Ari pointed his Desert Eagle at his father- "These are the Director's orders: In the event that Head Scientist Jeb Batchelder is found attempting to escape or aid experiment codename 'The Flock,' he is to be considered no longer an asset and is expendable. Full discretion is given to Security Director-that's me-in handling the situation." Ari pulled back the hammer. "Can you guess where I'm leaning?"

Jeb's eyes flashed with fear…and sadness. This is what had become of his own flesh and blood? "Ari…why would you kill me?"

The Eraser's face contorted into one of rage, "Because you've always been pushing me away! You're the reason I'm like this in the first place! Your attention's always focused on the bird-freaks and that fucking transgender bitch! This is just some sweet ol' revenge. Killing you will be the best thing that ever happened to me. Now…" Ari's eyes glazed over and his features settled into one of disturbing serene…then they broke into savage fury.

" **DIE!"**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The bladed side of Subject 3's tail began to glow with poisonous-green acid. Then the appendage suddenly began to twitch, like it was having a spasm. At the same time, the chains and restraints holding the Queen began to snap and break, torn by an 'invisible' force.

It was just Subject 3's tail moving faster than the human eye could track.

When all of the restraints had been broken, the Queen let loose a low shriek as she pulled herself free from her ovipositor, separating with cringe-worthy rip. The Queen impacted the floor with a dull thump, her massive weight cracking the ancient stone. The ancient creature stayed crouched for awhile, her body heaving, saliva dripping from her translucent fangs.

Subject 3 stepped closer after thirty seconds of watching the Queen crouch there, to make sure everything was okay. She was within arms' reach of the Queen, when she felt _it._ The shift in the air…the change in the atmosphere.

The Queen went hostile.

A massive, muscular arm suddenly shot, nailing Subject 3 in the chest, sending her flying across the Chamber before skidding across the floor. She used the momentum to flip backwards and land in a crouch, teeth bared.

The hybrid cursed herself for a fool. When the pheromones of the Queen shifted, a haze Subject 3 didn't know was there lifted from her mind. From the moment the Queen first made contact with her, the demigoddess was under the creature's subtle hypnosis. The Queen was ancient being who had spent _eons_ using her telepathy on and against others. Her powers far outstripped that of Subject 3.

Looking back, the girl knew she wouldn't be forgetting this for a long time. Not once did she stop to try and read the Queen's mind. Not once did she truly pause to consider the Queen's words. 'Come free me,' was answered with 'no problem.' 'I wish to be free' was answered with 'wow, so do I, let's be friends.'

The Queen had played Subject 3 in way that the Director could never pull off. And the hybrid suddenly was aware of _further_ levels of fury. Her pride was wounded on an unspeakable level.

What made this betrayal even worse was the reason behind it: animal instinct. You see, the Queen sought to create a new Hive and spread across the planet. Subject 3's status as 'princess' made her a threat to the Queen's future rule. Upon full maturity, Subject 3 would seek to make her own Hive.

Two Hives of different leadership could not coexist.

It went against every fiber of the Queen's and the Princess's existence.

Subject 3 hissed at the Queen, and the ancient one hissed in return. This was primal death match beyond even that of the Xenomorph and the Predator. This was interspecies dominance, survival of the fittest, the right to live or die.

Only one would leave this island alive… _and Subject 3 had no intention of dying._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **I could've ended this a few hundred words ago, but I chose not to. I could've kept going for a few hundred words, but I chose not to.**_

 _ **The Hunters grow increasingly worried, the School is breaking apart, Scar is out like a light, and Subject 3 is about to fight an apex predator for the right to exist on this Earth.**_

 _ **Next chapter will be the conclusion of the AvP arc, and will begin the Escape arc.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	13. Aliens vs Predator: Pt Final

_Alien vs. Predator: Pt Final_

 _ **Welcome all to the final installment of our grand adventure to Antarctica!**_

 _ **Weyland is dead! Lex is dead! Around fifty other unimportant people are dead! Celtic is dead! Chopper (aka Wave) is dead! Scar is unconscious but soon won't be! The Hunters of Artemis are on the edge of their log-benches! Jeb and significant others are about to be dead! Subject 3 and the Queen are about to kill each other!**_

 _ **Lots and lots of dead people!**_

 _ **Does anyone even read these things!?**_

 _ **P.S. this will be the last chapter for a while. Partly because I'm a troll, and I need to work on my other stories.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own any franchise in this work of fiction_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Queen roared and charged, crest down. A blow like that would've turned any organic creature into a stain on the wall. But Subject 3 had lighting reflexes, impeccable agility, and super intelligence.

Just before she could be crushed like a bug, she rolled to her right avoiding the Queen who slammed into the wall with enough force to make pieces of the ceiling rain down.

Before the giant creature could recover, Subject 3 rammed her shoulder into the Queen's abdomen, her inhuman strength sending the ancient alien skidding into the wall where she impacted with a stone-destroying crash. Ten minutes had apparently passed because the pyramid began to shift once more.

Subject 3 promptly hightailed it the fuck out of there.

Fighting against something that size in such a close space wasn't something she wanted to do. Already she could sense the Queen getting up giving chase. The odds of the behemoth actually catching up to the hybrid were almost nonexistent, but Subject 3 had plan beyond playing runaway.

Racing through the spacious corridors, the demigoddess opened her mouth wide…launching highly compressed jets of acid at the walls, ceiling, and floors.

Her plan was actually very simple: use her acid to eat through the pyramid's structure and make it collapse on top of the Queen. It was super effective…

The pressure of the acid, combined with its nature, tore through the ancient stones almost like a laser. The acid began to spread, rapidly eating away at the foundations for many square meters. Subject had long since lost the Queen in the borderline maze she was in. Still, as she approached the main entrance, the heavy footfalls of the Queen were less than five-hundred yards and closing.

Looking around for only an instant, Subject 3 let loose the biggest, longest stream of liquid death she ever had. The result was a sound akin to burning meat, a whole lot of gas, and a crumbling pyramid. The amount of acid she had just blasted around the place was enough to collapse a skyscraper.

The pyramid began to rumble, the seismic vibrations telling Subject 3 that the structure was collapsing.

With a single, powerful leap, the demigoddess exited the pyramid and flew down the steps. She hit the ground in a roll, coming to a stop about a hundred feet from the base of the pyramid. She turned around and watched with a sense of satisfaction as the ancient thing fell in on itself, burying the Queen under several tons of rock.

But that wouldn't be enough to defeat the eons-old creature.

Looking above, another idea came to Subject 3's head: bring down the ice. Crouching low to build up power, the girl rocketed up into the air. Her tail began to flail wildly at the same time her acid blanketed the rock and frozen water above. Gravity worked its magic and Subject 3 came back to the ground. She didn't stay for long, a nanosecond later she back in the air, striking hard against the ice in every place she could reach.

After a few minutes of sending spider web cracks through cave above, Subject 3 smirked, her teeth glinting, as the world began to tremble. Then something _else_ began to rumble. With a triumphant shriek, the Queen burst out of the pyramid rubble, immediately zeroing in the cause for her brief tenure as being buried alive.

Unfortunately for the Queen, she was about to repeat the experience.

Subject 3's smirk turned into a full-blown grin when a chunk of rock descended from above and shattered over the Queen's thick skull. How amusing. The rumbling became an all-out tremor now, and that's when the demigoddess decided it was time to get back to the surface and prepare for either further battle with the Queen, more battle with Scar, or the trip back to the School and hatch the escape plan.

Racing to the tunnel, deftly avoiding her self-made avalanche, Subject 3 hit all-fours and began her breakneck scramble back to Razorback Point. Something didn't expect however, was that the shockwaves from the cave-in behind her and raced up the ice-tunnel causing it to collapse almost as quickly as she sprinted up it.

Feeling and hearing the ice nipping at her heels, Subject poured on the speed…and shot out of the tunnel like a bullet from a gun.

Flipping in mid-air, she landed in a roll from over two-hundred feet in the air, easily clearing the buildings and sheds of Razorback Point. Looking back, she blanched when she saw the _entire_ thing behind her start to collapse.

In a few seconds, Razorback Point Whaling Station and the Hunting Grounds were nothing more than a giant hole in the ground. Well, there went the bodies of Weyland, his coworkers, the two Predators, and the Queen…where was Scar?

CL-L-L-L-ICK

Right then. Behind her he was. Subject 3 turned around, but upon reading the Predator's mind…she didn't detect any hostility, despite the three red dots on her forehead and the plasma caster pointed at her. Only confusion, caution, and…respect? That was new.

Scar's chest plate had been discarded long ago, leaving only the armor on his legs, waist, and arms. His combi stick was on his back, all three smart discs on his belt, along with his mines. Wrist blades were retracted, and his knife was sheathed. His bio-mask lens was cracked though.

Now for the big question: continue fighting, or part ways.

Reading the Yautja's mind told Subject 3 that the fight had been drained from him, he wanted to know what happened to the Matriarch, and if he was going to be allowed to become Blooded for this spectacularly failed Hunt.

Scar came to decision. He deactivated his plasma caster, making it fall in place onto his shoulder, the barrel pointing up. His targeting dots disappeared as well. He clicked once more, before reaching up to his mask…pulling out one breathing tube…then the other…then removing the bio-mask altogether.

Subject 3 gazed upon the Predator's face without emotion. Taking off one's bio-mask was a sign of deep respect for one a Yautja considered worthy prey. Scar's mandibles spread wide as his mouth parted and he gave a deafening roar at the child.

The two locked eyes for a moment, a message of understanding passing between them. A message only understood by those that had fought hand-to-hand, fist-to-fist.

The moment was ruined, however, when the ice off to the side cracked and exploded upward. From the new hole in the ice, the midnight carapace of the Queen burst out. And she was not happy.

Good thing that Subject 3 wasn't happy either. For a second, she had finally felt some semblance of peace only for it to be shattered by this bitch. On top of that, she was feeling something she hadn't felt in almost six years: hunger. She was hungry.

Considering her body had no need for any solid or liquid sustenance, that could only mean that her hunger stemmed from the lack of acid in her sacs. Made sense, she spat enough of it out to melt half a mountain, it was only natural that her body would produce the chemicals necessary to stimulate hunger in order to replenish her body.

Subject 3 was broken out of her thoughts when a sense of betrayal flashed across her mind. She looked at Scar and saw the anger in his eyes. Oh, he thought she set him up.

' _The Matriarch is as much my ally as she is yours.'_

Scar balked when the voice of a young female entered his head.

' _It's the 'Serpent-girl.' Explanation later, fight now please.'_

Ignoring the strangeness of this situation, Scar agreed to fight alongside the little girl that had killed his brothers. He raised his right arm and cocked the blades within his gauntlet, before firing them into the beast's neck, making her screech. Scar grabbed his one of his smart discs and threw it.

What happened differently in this fanfic than in the movie was instead of Scar slicing parts of the Queen's body off, the Matriarch batted the disc out of the air, and used her massive tail to send Scar flying through the frozen air.

' _Oh perfect,'_ Subject 3 deadpanned.

' _Now then, Princess. Where were we?'_

An eye twitched, _'Call me princess one more time, bitch! See what happens!'_

The moon above glowed with crimson intensity.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

" **DIE!"**

 **[Hellsing OST: Severe Gunfight on the Hill of Casualties]**

Fang had no idea who this 'Ari' bastard was, but he did know that the closest thing he had to a father was about to be killed by him.

The rest of the Flock went wide-eyed when they saw the hammer move, the slide pull back, and fire erupt from the barrel. They all froze when the bullet sailed through the air…all of them but Fang, and one other.

Fang desperately tried to move, to knock Jeb out of the way, but he was on the far-side of the man and his body was despairingly slow. He wasn't going to make it anywhere near in time. He was going to be powerless to stop Jeb from dying. He was going to fail.

Then his father-figure was miraculously knocked down.

"Max!" Angel screamed. Fang's coal eyes widened in absolute horror. Jeb had been knocked out of the bullet's flight path, but the person who did it had substituted herself for the white turn-coat.

It was a shot aimed for the heart of a man of six feet, but had impacted a young girl of five feet three inches.

Tears of rage and sorrow threatened to spill from Fang's eyes. Max laid on the ground at his feet, her blonde hair covering her face, blood quickly pooling out around her. Her chest wasn't rising.

Nudge was openly bawling, Iggy was holding her close, tears falling from his own milky eyes. Gazzy had a dazed, blank look in his eyes, and Jeb was openly gaping. Angel's head was bowed, her lips trembling in a desperate attempt not to cry out.

And Ari? He was howling with guttural laughter

Fang's sadness over the _death_ of his sister was quashed by all-encompassing fury. His head whipped around to face the Eraser responsible for this. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Fang's ink-colored wings snapped out wide…and he _flew._

The sound of gunfire echoed through the cavern as a hundred machine guns went off simultaneously. Fang felt nothing but slight pinches across his body, then warmth in his clothes. He felt weaker, but he still crashed into Ari.

The two rolled across the floor, but Ari threw the avian off of him.

Fang landed in a position that gave him a view to his worst nightmare. When the Erasers had opened fire, not every shot was meant for him. Most of the bullets had went _past_ him…straight into his family.

Fang saw a man.

The man was tall, with skin and wings the same color as Fang's wings. His eyes were golden, and his build was lean and powerful. His black hair fell to his shoulders. Perhaps it was his delirium, but Fang swore the man was wearing a tunic.

"Your death…will be the cause of so many others."

Fang saw a beautiful light…then nothing.

 **[End OST]**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was better this way, Angel thought.

Jeb's plan was good, but it was spur of the moment, unclear through the end. The major flaw in his escape plan, was the after-plan. He didn't have one. Jeb's master escape plan was to break them out, hop in a car, drive out to a helicopter, and fly away into the sunset.

Yes, because the School would allow that to happen.

Even if the Flock did escape, they would be living in constant fear of Erasers, living in constant fear of being captured/killed by the agents of the School. Subject 3 would've caught up to them, no question. But her presence would make the Flock an even bigger target, because the white coats valued her so much.

Sure anything the School sent at them would probably be slaughtered by the girl, but a life of constant killing wasn't something Angel wished for her best friend.

So she came up with this master plan.

She planted an order in the minds of the first two Erasers, making them go tell whoever their commanding officer was to set up an ambush at the place where Jeb would be taking the Flock: the motor pool. The commander being Jeb's son wasn't something Angel thought of, but it worked out the end. Although, Max diving into Jeb to save his life also wasn't something Angel planned on, but the youngest Flock member was adaptive if nothing else. It was heartbreaking, truly it was, watching her big sister be killed like that. But it was necessary.

Angel supposed the hardest part of her plan was getting past those infernal headbands and making the Erasers do her bidding. After Ari had killed Max, Jeb's son almost wet himself upon realizing what he just did. In his mind, he had just killed one of the bargaining chips…one of the ones keeping the loose cannon that was Subject 3 under control.

The Director had said that was a big no-no.

It took a massive amount of mental strength, but she did it, she broke past the barrier made by the headbands and took control. She made the Eraser laugh, which made Fang's anger soar into the heavens, making him recklessly fly at Ari.

What Angel made the other Erasers do, shattered her heart.

As she lay on the cold floor, blood and feathers pooling around her hole-riddled little body, Angel took a look around. Jeb was face down on the ground, red soaking his once-pristine white lab coat. Iggy and Nudge still clung to each other. Angel figured that was the closest they would ever get to telling the other how they felt. Fang was dead, shot and killed by the multiple bullet wounds. Max had died long ago. Gazzy, her sweet, kind, caring, mischievous, naïve big brother…he was covered in bleeding holes too.

That was when Angel realized she was about to die in a pool of blood created by her family.

But…it wasn't over yet. The Director, when she learned of this event, would no doubt either vacate or kill these men for damage control. Subject 3's telepathy would read their minds, giving her a detailed play-by-play of the Flock's murder…which would result in mass-murder. So she needed to find something to download these memories into so Subject 3 would learn of this event and kill the Director.

Heh. Four years old and she understood what it meant to be martyr.

Struggling to turn her head, Angel's raptor-vision made out her saving grace: scurrying along the wall adjacent to her, was a rat. It would have to do. The only problem was if it would still be alive by the time Subject 3 got back. Heeding the risks, Angel used the last of her strength to slowly download _certain_ memories into the rodent's brain. The rat squirmed as the foreign sensation took hold of its tiny body. Then it was over, all memories downloaded. All that was left was for Subject 3 to find the rat and tear this place to the ground.

Yeah, Angel thought as her life ended, this was for the best.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Oh. Shit…

The _ichor_ running through veins of the Fates went cold.

It had happened. The deaths of the ones Percy held dearest to her. When she learned of this event, there would be _nothing_ they could do to quell the daughter of Poseidon's rage. The mortals in that facility would be nothing but cannon fodder to Percy. She will slaughter everyone and everything in between her and Marian Janssen.

That damnable woman will no doubt flee for her life, and Percy will no doubt chase across the planet.

The devastation an angry daughter of the Eldest Gods could bring was nothing short of catastrophic. When she had her first period, Thalia Grace had panicked to the point her raging emotions caused a freak-storm that cost the government over five million dollars in damages.

The bright side to that story was that had lead the satyrs right to their location.

The dark side to that story was that if Thalia's storm powers had caused that much damage just because she was frightened and didn't understand why she was peeing blood, then how much destruction would Percy's own geo/atmokinetic powers cause…when she was experiencing levels of fury and sorrow that every known dictionary didn't have words for yet.

Considering where the School was located, it was a possibility that Percy would trigger the San Andreas Fault.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Queen and Subject 3 stared each other down in primal rage. This was an all or nothing fight to the death. No holds barred, no existing rules. Only the Law of the Jungle: survival of the fittest.

The powerful entities screeched at the other in unison, the harsh soundwaves cracking the ice at their feet. They charged, Subject 3 leaping high into the air, only to be batted down by the Queen's massive tail.

Undaunted, the hybrid landed on her feet, going in for a different attack pattern. The Queen brought her tail down in an attempt to skewer Subject 3, but the demigoddess nimbly dodged the blade, rolling under the Queen's underbelly. Raising her hands, the hybrid charged her nails with acid, strengthening their piercing power, before firing them into the Queen's stomach.

They went in with almost no resistance.

Subject 3 rolled out before she could be stomped on, but she was too slow to avoid being backhanded away by the Queen. She rolled across the ice, coming to a stop in the middle of a whale skeleton. Subject 3 grinned.

You didn't have to sense seismic vibrations to know that the Queen was stomping her way over, the foreboding thump, thump, thump would've been enough to make most people need new pants. Luckily Subject 3 had no need to use the bathroom for any reason whatsoever.

The daughter of Poseidon began to rip up the rib bones, and hurl them at the approaching Matriarch. They did little but annoy the ancient creature, shattering against its thick exoskeleton. That's when Subject 3 did something that belonged in a movie: she did a handstand, before spinning around on the ice, her tail extended, tearing through old bones and throwing them into the air. Then she paused mid-spin, before spinning around in the opposite direction, this time batting all of the whale bones at the Queen in one massive flurry.

The flying calcium slammed into the Queen with all the force of a wrecking ball.

As the Matriarch was buried, Scar finally rose out of the wreckage he had been thrown into. Yelling in rage, the last Predator wasted no time in aiming his plasma caster at the downed Queen, and _unloading_ on that bitch. The amount plasma that washed over the bone pile was enough to make it explode…temporarily neutralizing her.

Subject appeared next to Scar, _'You know that didn't kill her, right?'_

The Yautja proved to be adaptive. Instead of trying to speak, he responded mentally, _'Of course I do.'_ His (mental)voice was deep and gravelly. _'And because of you, my brothers are dead, all of the humans are dead, and the Serpent-Queen has been freed, therefore eliminating the possibility of her breeding any children. Because of you, all but two opportunities to bring honor to my clan have been eradicated.'_ Scar sounded justifiably angry.

But Subject 3 was not dealing with this honor crap right now, _'Attack me and I'll let the Queen tear you apart. You need my help to beat her, I don't necessarily need yours to do the same. Now you can help me and claim the Queen's head as your own. Or I leave you for dead and then take your weapons from your still-warm corpse to finish this bitch off.'_

The Queen screeched as she rose to her feet, the closest thing to a look of rage on her face, as was possible for something that didn't have the proper facial muscles.

Scar looked at Subject 3, _'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'_

The girl nodded, _'Well said.'_

The unlikely partners sprinted in two different directions, Scar running to the right, S-3 running to the left. The Predator fired plasma bursts at the Queen and the hybrid fired her claws. Perhaps foolishly, the Matriarch went after the Predator.

Scar planted his foot before turning and running in the opposite direction of the behemoth that was quickly gaining on him. The Queen got close enough to snap at the Yautja, her secondary jaw just inches away from blasting his fluorescent green brains all over the ice…when the demigoddess came streaking into the Queen's legs, barreling right into the mighty limbs with all the force of a rocket.

Subject 3 caught one of the Matriarch's feet, and, using the momentum from her run and her super-strength, began to spin. The muscles in her arms bulged under the strain, visibly swelling in size as she threw the several-ton alien over one hundred feet away.

Nausea and fatigue washed over the demigoddess like a flood. She fell to her knee, her vision swimming. Apparently, being _this_ low on acid was having a severe adverse effect on her body. Growling to herself, Subject 3 focused her mind on the singular task of killing the Queen. Nodding to the concerned-looking Scar that she was alright, the duo took off at their common adversary. As they ran, the distance between them grew. A strategy in case the Queen was playing possum.

It irked Subject 3 that she couldn't read her mind.

At just twenty feet away and closing fast, S-3 shot her left hand out, mentally yelling at Scar to through her his combi stick. The Predator complied without complaint. The deadly spear sailed through the air in its collapsed form, on a perfect angle to reach S-3 right before she was stepping on the Queen.

' _This is it…'_ Subject 3 thought triumphantly. When she caught the combi stick, she would extend it, jump, and stab it right through the Queen's acid-filled atriums. Like Michael killing Lucifer…

…and then the Queen moved.

CRUNKSH

The Matriarch's jaws clamped down on Subject 3's extended arm with more power than a Tyrannosaurus Rex. That is to say, with force exceeding ten-thousand pounds per square inch.

The girl's vision danced with black spots. She was vaguely conscious of her being lifted off the ground, the Queen placing her hand on her body, before losing all feeling in her left arm entirely. She felt weightless before she slammed into something cold.

The ice.

Subject 3 placed her right arm on the frozen surface, desperately struggling to force herself upright. Looking over, she looked at the empty space where her arm used to be, a small, steady stream of poisonous green liquid falling to the ice below, causing it to hiss and steam.

Then she felt something rip straight through her sternum.

Looking down, the demigoddess saw the blade of the Queen's tail covered in her green blood protruding from her body. The Queen began to raise her tail, bringing her rival close to her green blood-covered maw. The Queen 'stared' into Subject 3's drooping, tired eyes. Instead of spearing the little one's head with her secondary mouth, the Queen instead roared in victory.

Then she whipped her massive tail, sending Subject 3 flying…right over the edge of glacier…into the _waters_ below.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Hunters of Artemis looked torn between crying, screaming, and demanding to be flashed to Antarctica.

During the 'intermission' between the girl and the Predator, the immortal teenagers had done some business, eaten some food, and conversed about the battle they were witnessing. After almost thirty minutes of the possible-daughter of Poseidon being down in the pyramid for whatever reason, imagine their surprise when she burst out of the tunnel…then the entire whaling station caved in.

They were even further surprised when the girl and the Predator _didn't_ fight. Instead, they seemed more like they were going to hug or something. Then the ante was upped when the damn _Matriarch_ hopped out of the ice.

Now _that_ was a fight.

But…something was wrong. The girl was sluggish, tired, and weaker than she was just an hour ago. Zoё was sure that the girl could've fought the Queen by herself, but now…she was doing good just to keep up with the Predator.

Then the immortals were on their feet with bows and knives drawn when the Queen ripped off the girl's entire left arm, before impaling the child with her bladed tail, and throwing her into the frigid water below.

"My lady!" Thalia cried, "We need to do something, she's going to die down there!" Many others voiced their agreement, but Artemis remained silent, her silver eyes glued to the Moon Window showing the events in Antarctica.

Thalia grit her teeth, distant thunder rumbling across the sky, "If that is my cousin, then I refuse to sit here and do nothing while she's killed in front of me."

Artemis thought for a moment, before slowly turning her gleaming eyes toward her half-sister, "If that is our younger cousin, then being in the ocean will heal her, and empower her."

The Hunters all sat back with shocked looks on their faces. They hadn't considered that a possibility.

"If the girl turns out _not_ to be a Child of the Sea, then I will save her. For now, watch. The finale is about to begin."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **[Most Epic Music Ever: Everything Ends Here]**

Falling.

That was what Subject 3 was doing. She didn't feel anything when she hit the water, nor did she feel anything as she drifted down into the deep. No…that wasn't right. She didn't feel _nothing_ , she felt empty. Like a part of herself was missing.

Her eyes halfway open, the demigoddess began to think deeply. After a few moments, Subject 3 realized what it was: her drive. She didn't feel any true reason to fight on. Only an instinct within told her to continue to battle.

It made her angry.

Her gut began to tug, like it was calling out to something. The water around her arm and abdomen began to froth and bubble. Her ire increased when she thought of Max and Angel, Fang and Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy.

The water began to boil, contradictory to freezing temperatures.

 _They_ were her motivation. _They_ were her reason to fight. _They_ were her family. How dare she not recognize them as such! It made her angry at herself, at her blood-thirsty mind for caring not for the reason, but for the glory.

Feeling in her arm was gradually returning, and her abdomen no longer felt like you could fit a grapefruit through it.

 **[1:35]**

Subject 3's eyes snapped wide open, her irises glowing with power. With a muffled shout, the daughter of Poseidon righted herself in the black water, and shot up to the surface like a torpedo. Upon breaching, the hybrid soared through the air, flying just over the ice ridge.

Her impact on the ice caused it to crack beneath her. She didn't have to look up to know that Scar was about to be ripped in half, her senses were on a level she had never known.

Then she was gone, and the Queen (who was about to rip Scar in half) was suddenly being tossed around the frozen wasteland. The Matriarch barely had time to right itself before she felt another impact that sent her scraping up frozen water.

The massive monster dug her giant claws into the ice, bringing her to stop. Her head snapped up, searching for the cause responsible, when her head was _slammed_ into the ice. Hard enough that the Queen's cranium bounced up from the force.

Subject 3 materialized in in front of the bitch, and unleashed a left, a right, and then a vicious uppercut. Each blow knocked out some of the Queen's teeth, the final one sending her Royal Assness jerking up. With her massive chest exposed, the Matriarch was helpless to defend herself from the super-powered spin-kick that sent her _very_ close to the edge of the cliff.

 **[2:48]**

The Queen gained enough presence of mind to through a wild punch, but Subject 3 gracefully avoided it and scrambled up to the Matriarch's back. The alien dropped her weight and rolled, attempting to hit the demigoddess with her flailing arm. Subject 3 twisted in mid-air, avoiding the appendage…the angle of which provided ample opportunity for the girl's tail to slice off the Queen's arm.

Neither combatant wasted time in getting up and resuming their melee. The Queen jabbed with her tail, a whoosh accompanying the sudden air displacement. Subject 3 opened her body up to her right, the blade sailing right on past. Focusing the remaining water droplets from her dip in the ocean to the side of her hand, she sliced up, cleaving through the Queen's tail as they passed each other.

The Queen ignored the pain and attempted to back hand her rival with her remaining arm, but Subject 3 crouched low, focused the water to her tail and sliced up, removing the Queen's final limb. The Matriarch stumbled back, but the hybrid planted her hands and used them as the focal point of her next spin. Her water-covered tail cleanly ripped through the Queen's quadruped legs, sending the alien to the ice.

Acid poured from the open wounds, eating through the ice.

Subject 3 leapt high into the air, _La Luna del Cacciatore_ glowing behind her. The daughter of the Earthshaker focused her geokinetic powers into her fist…before slamming down to the ground, sending out a seismic shockwave that traveled straight down the cliff.

 **[3:11]**

The ice cracked and fell with a thunderous roar. Just before the Queen fell to her icy grave, Subject 3's tail lashed out one more time, decapitating the ancient beast. The head, arms, legs, and tail of the Matriarch were separated and buried under the cascading ice, sending it all to frozen depths below.

Subject 3 stood at the edge for a number of moments, gazing silently at the displaced liquid far below her. Falling into the water had provided her with strength she had never felt before. Even when she took that shower so long ago, she didn't feel anything like this. She was definitely far beyond anything that man could create. She could make earthquakes and received power from water, specifically ocean water.

Maybe Jeb's theory of her being the offspring of a god had some merit.

 **[End OST]**

Sighing to herself, Subject 3 willed the water off of her body before it could freeze, which would hamper her movement. She made her way over to the barely-alive Yautja.

Scar's breathing was shallow and ragged. He had two holed in his torso from where the Queen had stabbed him. His left arm had been severed at the elbow, and, by the look of the surrounding flesh, it had not been a clean amputation. His right leg was clearly broken, and his left was barely attached to his body.

His wounds were terminal.

' _Is there anything you want me to do?'_ Subject 3 asked the dying warrior.

Scar tiredly rolled his eyes to look at the Serpent-girl, _'We know that the humans have watching this Hunt. After you leave, they will no doubt try and scavenge this area for both my body and weapons, as well as the Serpent-Queen's corpse.'_ Scar weakly gestured with his remaining arm. _'Look into my mind. Find the detonation code for my wrist bracer, and activate it. Do not allow the humans access to anything here. If they access our technology, this planet will know a war unlike any other in your history.'_

Subject 3 nodded in the affirmative, and did as requested. Scar had broadcasted the proper code, and the young telepath inputted it correctly. A series of symbols appeared in the bracer's mini screens, a buzzing sound originating from the count down.

' _Thank you.'_ Scar's body fell limp with a shudder.

Subject 3 looked at the body of the warrior that had fought to his last breath against an adversary that had _defeated_ her. The demigoddess would forever remember the Queen as the opponent that had beaten her, however short-lived it was.

It was ironic. The Young Bloods had come here today to bring home trophies and honor to their clan. Instead, they had all arrived to a dwelling of corpses and no chance for any Serpent trophies. The only thing here was a freak that had proved to be too much for all of them to handle. And the Queen had broken loose, a creature far too strong for such an inexperienced Yautja to fight alone.

Buy Scar had done it. He had gone head to head with the Matriarch and held his own, if only for a limited time. While in his mind, Subject 3 had seen the ritual that was performed when one became Blooded. Channeling a small bit of acid into her nail (her sacs had miraculously refilled when she was underwater) the daughter of Poseidon drew her claw across the forehead of the deceased Hunter, making a stylized 'T.'

' _Pass from this life to the next with honor.'_

Closing the eyes of the Blooded Yautja, Subject 3 sprinted full speed away from the impending explosion. The frozen island may have been small compared to most places, but it was large enough that the hybrid put enough distance between her and the bomb to safely watch the beautiful lightshow that soon followed.

The electric-blue blast annihilated any trace of Predator or Alien.

Subject 3 stood there for she didn't know how long, gazing at the blast cloud. Once again, her xenobiology was conflicting with her remaining humanity. She felt a small sense of remorse, while at the same time, nothing at all.

She sighed to herself. She truly was a fucked up person.

CL-C-C-C-C-K

Subject 3 calmly turned around, and was almost blinded by the number of red dots covering her face and the rest of her body. The rest of the Predators had arrived, their ship decloaking behind them. All of the Hunters had their plasma casters aimed at her, all primed and ready to blow her apart.

Directly behind her stood the Yautja Ancient.

He held his mask in the crook of his left arm, his more ornate combi stick held in his right, pointed up. His face was littered with scars and spines, his mandibles carved with complex designs. His dreadlocks fell to the middle of his back, and the Ancient was adorned with a red cape that gathered on the ice.

The Predator clicked as he gazed upon the Serpent-girl. He had seen everything. From the moment the human ship had docked, to the point where detonated the Young-no, the _Blooded's_ wrist bracer. He also knew that the human scientists were watching this meeting right now.

The Ancient thought about what to do. On one hand, this child had killed two of his clan members and released the Serpent-Queen, which basically killed his final clan member. She had slaughtered all of the human prey for no apparent reason (death without cause was something the Yautja abhorred), and was a general pain in the ass.

However, she had fought with honor, dignity, and pride. She had proven herself a warrior when she fought against Celtic and Chopper, and she had aided Scar in the battle against the Serpent-Queen. When the Ancient saw that bitch pop up from the ice he almost carpet bombed the entire area. He was glad he didn't.

The battle between Hunter and Prey was as brutal as one would expect, and, despite being fatally wounded, Scar more than earned his Mark. A Mark given to him by the Serpent-girl.

The red moon began to shine brightly overhead, drawing the attention of all those present.

The Ancient Yautja clicked. He had been alive for many centuries, seen many things, been on many hunts, killed many creatures. He remembered his own initiation Hunt, over one thousand years ago. He had met a goddess then, a Goddess of the Hunt. Every hundred years, the Yautja would offer a sacrifice to the Moon Lady in hopes of being blessed on their first Hunt.

It was a ritual that was considered sacred.

If the Moon Lady showed favor to the Serpent-girl, then that was enough for the Ancient Yautja to make his decision.

He held out his combi stick-his most prized weapon-and let retract. Understanding passed through the Serpent-girl's eyes and she raised her own hand, in which the Ancient gently placed his favorite weapon.

The Serpent-girl took the combi stick, and did something that shocked the Predator: she bowed. The Ancient clicked one more time before spinning on his heel, dreads and cape billowing behind him.

Subject 3 watched the Predators board their ship, the doors close up, and the ship take off and cloak as it sped off into the far reaches of space.

The hybrid looked at the spear in her hand. It was far more ornate and beautiful than either of the other Predator's weapons. It was decorated with beads and talismans, and the ceremonial skulls of small animals. Carved into the combi stick's handle were images of Ancient's trophies. Extending the blades, Subject 3 noted that they were sharper of more polished than the others. She also noted the blades spreading from the sides of the hilt; those were going to be useful for blocking other weapons.

Of course, the Director was most likely going to take the combi stick from her to have it analyzed by her team of hairless monkeys, but S-3 was simply going to take it back…and use it impale the bitch from anus to mouth.

That was going to be messy, yet highly satisfying.

Her senses picked up a chopper closing in, the Director and Groves along with a number of Erasers were in it. No doubt to take her back to the School.

The demigoddess sincerely hoped they enjoyed the show…because they were next on her list.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well that settles. That girl is Poseidon's daughter."

Many agreed with Phoebe's statement.

"What do we do now?" asked Thomasin, a Huntress that joined during the 1630s…after Artemis saved her from a demonic…goat. **(Points to the ones who get the reference)**

Thalia stood up, lightning in her eyes. No pun intended. "What we're going to do, is get our asses over to Antarctica and get her out of the mortal's hands before they do anything else to her." Her declaration was met with cries of agreement and shouts of approval. Even Zoё was smirking at the idea presented by the Daughter of Zeus.

' _I wonder if they would be this up in arms if the child was a boy instead of a girl,'_ Artemis snorted quietly to herself. _'Probably not.'_

The Moon Goddess stood up, cutting the Moon Window off, "Right. Let's go rescue my uncle's daughter." Her 'daughters' gave a resounding cheer. Artemis began to glow brightly, her Huntresses closing their eyes so they wouldn't be vaporized by her true form. They were about to be flashed to Antarctica, when…

" _No!"_

Three powerful voices screamed at once, knocking girls and goddess alike unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Whew. That was too close. Having the Hunters 'rescue' Percy at this time would not have ended well. Imagine, a bunch of adolescent females dressed in silver appearing next to you in a flash of light, while you had a dangerous weapon in hand, telling you they were your extended family and that they were there to rescue you.

The Fates were trying to avoid the 'daughters' of Artemis from being filleted alive.

Besides, it was not time for Percy to join the mythological world. Luke had not yet pledged his allegiance to Kronos, and all of the pieces for the Second Titanomachy were not in place. The daughters of Ananke felt like they were playing with Chaos. Calling Poseidon's daughter a loose cannon wasn't giving the girl enough credit; she was more closely related to a loose nuclear bomb.

Then again…letting Percy go with the Hunters probably would've saved the lives of thousands.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _10 days later_

 _The School_

Subject 3 was back in her cell at this damn place. Upon arrival, she had begun her search for her family. Strangely enough, she couldn't find them. No big deal, she was rushing in her search after all. Now that she was in a 'safe' environment (the Director had, indeed, taken S-3's combi stick) she could search for the Flock without interruption.

Spreading out her mind, she searched for Angel…okay, where was she? Where were the other Flock members, too?

Actually, the minds of the white coats were hazy for some reason. Maybe those headbands they were all wearing weren't just for a fashion statement. It was only a matter of time before they came up with something to block her telepathy, but this was not needed right now.

Moving on from telepathy, Subject focused on her pheromone sensing. Searching, searching, searching…she found faded scents, but they weeks old. She also found other avian-based scents, but they did not belong to anyone in the Flock.

Okay, concerning. How about seismic vibrations then? Focusing on those powers, the demigoddess searched for the vibrations created by the movements of Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and/or Angel. She couldn't find them!

 _Where the fuck were they!?_

Using the last sensory technique she had, short of echolocation, Subject 3 desperately searched for her friends with her electro-location. She focused all of her energy on finding the Flock's bio-electric signatures. She. Didn't. Find. Them.

Alright, stay calm. There was a logical explanation for this. The Director wasn't dumb enough to kill them; she knew that their deaths would result in S-3 going on murderous rampage. They were probably just outside of the School on some twisted experiment.

Yeah. That was it. They were outside on an experiment. So, she just needed to tear into someone's mind to find out where, when, and what they were doing.

Or have patience and let them return…how about no.

Sitting still and focusing all of her power on her telepathy, Subject 3 released a mental wave that raced across the confines of the School. The denizens of the twisted science lab were all brought to their knees as something stabbed into their minds.

Subject 3's telepathic wave tore passed their cute little headbands and laid their memories bare. There was _nothing_ on the current whereabouts of the Flock. That wasn't…that wasn't possible. There had to be something…!

A rat.

Inside the walls, deep within the lower levels of the School, there was a rat, a little rodent that lived off of whatever it could find, that had memories _…_ memories of the Flock…memories of the Flock being _murdered_.

Subject 3 saw the images from the eyes of Angel, sweet little, four-year-old Angel as she was shot multiple times, the bullets tearing through her body and wings, the maddeningly grinning face of the now-deceased Jeb Batchelder's son, Ari.

The daughter of Poseidon fell to her knees. She placed a hand on her heart, an unfamiliar pain originating from there. Her throat felt like a rock was placed in her esophagus, blocking any sound from coming out, choking her.

 _Drip…drip_

Something wet trailed down the hybrid's cheeks, landing on the padded floor, causing it to hiss. Reaching up, she was surprised to find out the wetness was what humans called 'tears,' only that they were the same color as her blood. She was crying _acid_. She had never cried before; she never had any reason to.

Reason to…

A black fist closed tightly around the acidic tear. Subject 3's still-existing diaphragm began to contract, forcefully drawing in the surrounding air. The chemical reaction caused by the air molecules coming into contact with the acid in her sacs created a gas that exited through the girl's mouth, creating a demonic image. Subject 3's eyes closed in unparalleled rage, her teeth grinded together, her lips parting, saliva dripping from her fangs. Her hand closed on the wall, her claws tearing through the padding like paper. The world began to subtly shake.

Percy Jackson's eyes snapped open, her green eyes shining with rage-fueled energy. Her mouth slowly parted, strings of saliva being stretched between her translucent fangs. Her scream of primal rage echoed through the halls of the School, filling all who heard it with animalistic dread.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Overflowing with hatred and despair, the line between innocent and guilty is blurred.**_

 _ **Next time on Xenomorphic:**_

 _ **Genocide!**_


	14. Genocide!

_Genocide!_

 _ **I believe this has waited long enough.**_

 _ **Content warning: extreme blood and gore, intense graphic images, and death of children.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I do not own AVP, PJO, or Robotech (if anyone actually knows what that is)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Darkness. It was all she ever saw, yet never recognized._

 _Pain. It was all she ever felt, yet he never processed._

 _Medicine. It was all she ever smelled, yet never used._

 _Screams. It was all she ever heard, yet never listened to._

 _Death. It was all she ever tasted, yet never fully took a bite out of._

She had waited six years, because she didn't know of the outside world. She had waited four years because she wanted to learn. She had waited one year to build her friendship. She had waited two months, to hone all of her powers, and senses. Now she was ready. There was nothing more for her here, nothing else to tie her down. Her loved ones had been ripped from her life, leaving a void that could only be filled with one thing: Marian Janssen's head.

Time to go get it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Deep within bowels of the Hell of known as the School, was the generator room. Built deep beneath the earth, massive machines whirred and grinded with a deafening thrum. Drawing on geothermal energy buried even deeper, this cavernous outcropping of space provided power to the entirety of the School. Most of the machines were operated by computer because the temperature in there was well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, but the School still had to have maintenance personnel of some kind. Hence the genetically-engineered Erasers that were designed with an intense heat tolerance.

There were three of them in the generator room. Two were on the floor, checking the gauges and gears to make sure everything was running smoothly and nothing was wrong that their buggy systems, and the third was sitting inside the nice air-conditioned office that overlooked the dimly lit generator room.

The Eraser was calmly sitting in his rolly-chair, legs propped up on his desk, dressed in loose-fitting, breathable clothes and a hardhat. His body was as ripped as you would expect, and his face was handsome too. He was the time of man that girl would vehemently deny that they masturbated to.

He was drinking a cup of coffee to keep him awake just a little longer, since it was almost 11 at night. A newspaper was in his hands, the front page emblazoned with some article about how Christmas was in four days and stores were selling out of everything and holiday cheer was in the air, and other bullshit the werewolf-thing didn't care about.

The Eraser reached over for his coffee, bring it to his lips…before he suddenly dropped it, the mug shattering and spilling its contents all over the white-tiled floor. He bolted up right with enough force to send his chair slamming into the wall. A deep scowl marked his features, but it was his eyes that drew all attention.

Once a beautiful blue that shined and drew in females left and right, they were now a poisonous green with a slit pupil.

The Eraser's face became neutral again, and his eyes returned to their normal blue, but they seemed to have a far-off look in them. The hybrid walked out of the office, the shattered mug pieces crunching as his steel-toed boots descended upon them. He approached the emergency fire axe, shattered its glass casing with a punch, and took out the weapon.

The Eraser gave it a few swings, testing its weight. Deeming it well enough, he exited the office area, and silently entered the massive generator room. The only light came from the overhead lamps that looked like they came from ancient gold mines. The Eraser could smell his two companions; their sweaty bodies were like olfactory beacons. They were separated, one of them checking on the machine that cleaned and recycled water, the other one maintaining the gigantic gas tank.

This would be easy.

The homicidal Eraser snuck up on the water-cleaner Eraser. He raised his axe high, ready to strike. The oblivious Eraser turned around to grab a wrench…just in time to see a blade cleave right into his throat. The axe got lodged deep in to Eraser's throat, spraying blood everywhere. Death was not instant however, and the wounded Eraser tried to fight back.

The first hybrid ripped out the axe, making the injured fall to his knees, hands trying to stop the bleeding. He raised his arm up on reflex, but the falling axe cut deep into the Eraser's wrist, almost cleaving through bone. The Eraser pulled his axe back out, the injured arm falling limply to the ground. With a grunt, the third Eraser completely severed the other one's head from his body.

Blood pooled on the floor in a massive puddle.

The severed head's face was frozen forever into one of horror, specs of blood covering its face. The third Eraser was annoyed; it wasn't supposed to take that long, and now he was covered in the other one's fluids. Shaking his head, the homicidal maniac continued on with the hunt.

He found the last obstacle easy enough, for he was heading up the stairs to the office. The Eraser hurled his axe up at the target, and the blade buried itself deep into the spine. The first Eraser screamed bloody murder at being suddenly stabbed, and all feeling left everywhere from the neck down. He whimpered as he heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the metal stairs.

The third Eraser didn't even hesitate to grab his and flip his companion over, slamming his limp body onto the stairs, making the axe blade pop out of his sternum from the back. They were both dead; now last Eraser went to work to setting up the home-field advantage.

He grabbed a blow torch from the supply room. The only entrance or exit out of this place was the elevator that descended all the way down here. In order to keep others from reversing what he was about to do, the Eraser welded the elevator doors shut, sealing others out…and himself in.

The Eraser's eyes flashed green and slitted as he walked back into the generator room. Deactivating the machines via computer would've been easily fixable by someone upstairs with a computer, but physically breaking the things wasn't so fixable.

The Eraser growled as he shifted and grew into his true, lupine form. With a bone-chilling howl, the hybrid went to town on the generators, smashing, punching, kicking, slamming, clawing, slashing, and destroying everything. Pipes, wires, and pistons were ripped to shreds. Within minutes, the entire School was experiencing systems failure and blackouts with no logical explanation.

His job done, the Eraser reverted back to his human form, completely naked because his clothes had been shredded. Alarms blared loudly and sparks flew wildly. The lights overhead flickered sporadically, fires blazed uncontrollably, and the ground shook slightly from the mini explosions dancing around.

The Eraser approached the water tank, one of the only machines not completely destroyed. He climbed up the stairs to the top of the tank, the metal cool to the touch due to its design. The hybrid unscrewed the maintenance hatch on top of the tank and opened it, revealing the boiling water within. He began to climb in, his eyes flashing poisonous green…before they faded back to blue, and awareness was present this time.

The Eraser reached up to rub his head, but since he didn't remember any of the past ten minutes, he was completely unaware of the precarious situation he had put himself in…and fell into the water tank, the hatch shutting itself immediately afterwards.

The Eraser's screams were drowned out by the final explosion that knocked out all power.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile_

The Director and her eight scientists were in her office, discussing the past two months. Predictably, Marian had flipped shit and had every Eraser aside from Ari terminated in ways that would've impressed Pinhead when she learned what those mutts had _killed the Flock_. When Subject 3 let loose that screech, the Director had put the School on Omega Red Alpha and locked down everything from the toilets to her own office in the fear that the girl was about to go on a rampage.

When nothing happened, Marian sent a _heavily_ armed security detail to check things out. They all came back alive…which was more concerning than anything.

That had led to an immediate meeting to brainstorm what had just happened. Theories ranged from something silly such as 'she saw a spider,' to something serious such as 'she began menstruating.' Unfortunately, Subject 3 had absolutely zero cooperation from that day forth. And, like a stubborn animal, refused to do anything she didn't want to, which led to a lot of frustration and stress on the Director's part.

It got so bad, she had to _relieve_ some of that stress, which led to a lot of sore balls and tired men.

On a brighter side, the data they received from watching those Antarctic fights was a ducking gold mine. The big alien, which was assumed to be the matriarch of the species, and the Hunters were such amazing species. But goddamn Subject 3 for blowing everything up and disintegrating the corpses, technology, and the pyramid. Luckily they did get the spear thingy.

Initial tests had revealed that the entire thing was made of elements not of this earth. Study of the spear yielded conclusions that the Hunters were more into hunting than what was originally thought. The pictograms on the spear depicted a Hunter killing many animals, and the small skulls decorating the spear were similar to common rodents, yet were clearly alien in origin. The talismans and beads proved that the Hunters had a hierarchy, and the one who owned this spear was at the very top. Unfortunately, the white-coats couldn't get the damn thing to open up and become its full form.

"If we're all in agreement then," Marian said, "we'll begin further testing with the alien DNA on other subjects-"

BOOM

The School shook slightly as the explosion from the lowest floor only trembled a little up here, a few hundred feet above. The lights went out, as did every other electric component plugged into an outlet. Then the red emergency lights flickered to life…and the Director was sprinting to the security room which was down the hall.

She broke down the steel door like it was made of tinfoil, and saw a sight reminisce of a bee hive: guards were scrambling around in the red-lit room, shouting at each other as the technicians frantically typed on their keyboards. The massive display screen that used to have monitors for literally every room (even the bathrooms) was off, but it was never supposed to be off.

" _What the hell is going on!?"_

The scurrying came to an abrupt halt as the Director's voice thundered over everything.

"Almost all power has been cut off!"

"There's been no communication with the Machine Room!"

"Emergency generators are active!"

"All systems are unresponsive!"

"Wait! All systems?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Even those that control the cell doors?"

"Uh…yes?"

The Director's eyes widened. "Get those short-range radios on now! I want all Erasers not a part of the IT department armed and armored ASAP. Use heavy weapons and high caliber side arms. Tell every department that you can that we are now in Omega Red Alpha! And turn that damn alarm off!"

"Madam Director!"

"What!?"

"The scientists…their heartbeat monitors…they're being slaughtered…"

"Subject 3…she's loose," Marian gasped. Everyone in the security room froze when they heard. If _that_ experiment was causing all of this, and was coming up for them…heaven help them all.

"Grah! She's currently on level 57, and we're on level 1. I don't want her going any higher than level 30, and so help anyone who fails to stop her and isn't dead. She's only one person, people, and we're an army. I want every Eraser to shoot-to-kill. Subject 3 is now officially expendable, and I expect her to be dealt with like all others that have been labeled expendable. Am I clear!?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Get every available Eraser below and above Level 57 now! I want status updates every thirty seconds, and I want every monitor/camera/surveillance device tracking Subject 3! Do not lose sight of her! You there, where's the Hunter-spear?"

"It's on level 40, ma'am!"

"Dammit, route all top forces to level 40! That's where Subject 3 will head first!"

"Madam Director, the scientists on Level 40 have all just gone cold!"

"Oh, fuck all kinds of duck!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Earlier, just after the Machine Room went up in flames_

 _Level 57_

All was quiet on the 57th floor, the alarms silent here. White-coats were in their offices, experiments were in their cages, and red lights were shining brightly in a circular motion along the corridors. In one hallway, there was a heavy, steel, hydraulic door built into what was once a pristine white wall that was now bathed periodically in red light.

That door opened up with hissing noise, revealing the black void within.

Soft footsteps were heard from within the room, like that of a young child walking across carpet. One leg emerged from the void, followed by another, and then a whole body. The creature that emerged from the void was a naked, female humanoid. She appeared to be about five feet tall, maybe a little over. Her skin was as black as the room she just exited, and her hair was a strange, tendril-like mass that fell neatly to her mid-back. Emerging from her upper-back were four tubes; the top tubes were longer and thicker than the one just beneath them, and where pointed up and out an angle, whereas the bottom tubes were pointed down and out at an angle. A long, slender tail in the shape of human vertebrae that ended in a vicious blade emerged from her tailbone. Small spikes protruded from her knees and elbows, and her finger were adorned with razor-sharp claws.

The girl's eyes were closed as she raised her hands and ran them through her hair, mussing up the tendrils. They neatly fell back into place, and her eyes then snapped open. Terrifying, poisonous-green eyes with vertical slits for pupils that were suspended in pools of darkness, were revealed to the world.

Subject 3 was free…and it was a long way to the top, if she wanted to kill the Director.

In an act of horrifying revenge, the girl spread her telepathy to every white-coat within her range, tearing straight through their pathetic headbands and deep into their minds, rending control of their actions from them, and over to her. As she hopped into an air vent and began her ascent to her spear, Subject 3 left a simple, yet complex, mental order in the minds of those she entered: commit suicide, painfully.

The humans and hybrids did so with manic grins on their faces.

 **Disturbing Images Ahead**

Pandemonium ensued after Subject 3 issued her command. White-coats went insane as they found creative ways to spill their own blood, their bodies moving on their own against their will.

One man grabbed a pen and began to shove down his own throat, his gag-reflex unresponsive.

Another man was shoving pens into his own eyes, laughing as blood streamed down his face.

A woman had herself bent over her desk, shoving multiple sharpened pencils into her ass as she choked on a small ball.

A group of white-coats barreled wildly into a lab, and began to violently mutilate themselves. A man slammed his head into every glass cabinet in the lab, lodging shards into his face and splitting open his skull. He grabbed some shards and shoved them all into his mouth and began chewing. The second man had gotten on his knees, and was violently slamming the lab door upon his own skull with a grin. The third man threw open the lab's refrigerator, and grabbed a large container marked N2-L. He unscrewed the lid, mist erupting from the top…then he poured everything inside into his open mouth. The only woman in the group grabbed a bone saw and tore off her shirt, before howling with laughter as she sawed off her own breasts.

Elsewhere, a man had obtained a scalpel and was busily slicing through his throat.

A woman had taken her pocket knife—a gift from her father—and was repeatedly stabbing the side of her head with it.

Another woman got ahold of a Bunsen burner, and stabbed the nozzle into her eye. Then she turned the burner on high with a scream.

A man took a paper clip and placed it into the nearest power outlet he could find, but nothing happened because there was no power. So he ran back over to his desk, hefted up his giant 2004 computer monitor, threw it into the air, and let it come crashing down on his skull.

A woman ran into a lab and mixed several chemicals together before pouring the hazardous concoction all over her face, melting it off.

A man that had metal teeth was vigorously eating his own body, spilling his blood everywhere around him.

A man took a surgical saw, a big one, and placed it between his legs before furiously grinding on it, tearing flesh like paper.

A woman was using her keyboard as a club, and was banging it against her head, cracking her skull open every time.

Another man was using a pair of scissors to snip off bits and pieces of his penis and scrotum, making him bleed out.

A man scrambled into the behavioral modification clinic and let out a rabid German Sheppard. He laughed as it ate him alive.

A woman had taken her wooden cross, about the size of a small shoe, the one thing that gave her hope as she worked down here, and was furiously stabbing it around inside her vagina, spraying her blood all over her legs and she tore up her insides.

A man had taken a CO2 fire extinguisher and put the nozzle into his mouth, before filling himself up with death.

A woman had found a hand-held power saw, the kind with a circular blade, and slowly drew it down her front, screaming hysterically as she split herself open in a shower of blood.

All across the School, white-coats from level 99 all the way up to level 12 were butchering themselves in gruesome, horrific fashions.

However, in the lab where the combi stick was being held, two white coats remained unaffected by the mental domination of Subject 3. They were shaking like leaves though as they listened to the carnage all around them. Suddenly, the door to the lab swung open, but nothing and nobody was there.

Subject 3 erupted from the ventilation shaft above the white-coats, dragging one back into the ceiling with her. The other white-coat screamed and made a break for the open door, only to slam into an invisible barrier. Rubbing his head, the white-coat pissed himself when he saw that the door was never open, and he heard a thump behind him.

Looking up, the last thing he saw was the translucent teeth and gaping maw of Subject 3 as she clamped down on his face, before biting through skin, muscle, and bone in an explosion of matter, leaving a gaping, bleeding hole where the white-coat's face once was.

Subject 3 spat out the meat that was in her mouth, but she didn't bother wiping the blood off. There would be more on it soon enough. The girl walked over to _her_ combi stick, which was 'secure' in a bulletproof glass box. She broke the box with a single touch.

The demigoddess reverently ran her hand over the surface of her weapon, feeling an intimate connection with the spear. Every decorative item was still in place because the white-coats wanted to keep everything in one place. She picked up her combi stick, and flipped her hand so that her palm was facing up.

The blades extended with a SHING.

Subject 3 made the blades retract, before she got curious and tested something. Putting pressure on just _one_ side of the spear, instead of in the middle, made only that side of the blades extend, creating a sword. She tried the same with the other side, with the same success. Then she gripped the combi stick with both hands, and _twisted_ in opposite directions.

The weapon split in two.

Subject 3 reconnected the combi stick with a neutral look. Multiple squads of Erasers were approaching, all of them equipped with body armor, m249 SAWs with under-mounted grenade launchers, night vision-equipped helmets, multiple hand grenades, and .50 caliber Desert Eagles. They also had order to _kill_ and not _capture_. It would be all too easy to make one open fire on their comrades, or commit suicide by pulling their grenade pins, or blow them all up with the grenade launcher. Oh, decisions, decisions.

Looking above her, Subject 3 sensed the bio-electric signature, smelled the pheromones, felt the weight, and read the mind of the Director. She and the rest of those in the security room were watching a live feed through the Erasers' helmets as they marched up and down the stairs, converging on the girl's location.

Subject 3 smirked cruelly. They wanted to watch? She hoped they had strong stomachs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The main squad, over thirty Erasers strong, made it to level 40 from the above. The leader of the squad exited the stairs and moved silently to the edge of the short hallway that stairs were located in. It was completely quite, no alarms, no scientists, not even the emergency light were flashing. The leader's green vision identified that the reason for the latter problem, was that the light had been destroyed.

Leaning around the corner, the leader saw nothing out of the ordinary, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was _something_ down that hallway, and it wasn't friendly. Making a gesture with his hand, the rest of the squad came from the stairs and began to stream down the hall, taking positions alongside both walls.

The leader was the last to move, going all the way down the hall to the lab door, passing all of his men who were either on a knee or standing up. The leader got to the door, and slowly turned the handle, before throwing it open with a bang, wildly swinging his machine gun around. There was nothing in there, except for the puddle of blood that was fed by a constant drip coming from the hole in the ceiling that was centered around the ventilation shaft, the broken glass box.

There was tinkling sound, like metal bouncing against metal, before someone yelled out 'grenade!' The leader dove deeper into the lab room, and the Erasers, as per their training and body armor, flattened themselves against the wall to try and limit their surface area.

SHING

SCRAAAAAAAAAAPE

FWOOOSH

These were the sounds that the leader heard from his prone form. Not the sound of an explosion, but the sound of blades, something tearing through the walls, and then what sounded like an eruption of liquid against a solid surface. The leader slowly got up and made his way over to the door, his heart pounding and his arms shaking. Slowly, his gun barrel made its way out the lab, followed by its wielder.

The leader's arms fell limp and he dropped his gun at what he saw.

Twin trenches had been ripped through the walls, perfectly parallel to each other, and identical in width and size. The Erasers were all dead, each of them perfectly eviscerated. Ones that had been crouching were decapitated, and ones that had been standing were bisected. Blood painted the entirety of the hallway, from the floor, up the walls, to cover the ceiling. Bodies littered the place, heads rolling through the sea of intestines, and lungs, and livers, and pancreases, and other internal organs that fell out when the body was cut in half just below the rib cage.

HISSS

The leader shuddered and shook as he slowly turned his upper body to look behind him. His night vision showed revealed a girl that was hunched over, her hair completely covering her face. Behind her, a tail danced around lazily. The leader froze, before he bolted down and picked his gun up, standing upright and-

SHWELK

The tail ripped through his body armor like tinfoil, the blades pointed up. The leader gasped and choked and gurgled as the bladed tail began to slide up through his body. The leader coughed blood into his helmet, filling it up with the crimson fluid. The tail slid up his esophagus before it stopped at the base of his skull. It paused for a moment, then it ripped straight up, cleaving through bone, brains, and metal with a pop.

The Eraser fell to the ground with a plop, his guts sliding out of his mutilated corpse.

Inside the security room, many people did indeed throw up. Some gasped in shock, others gaped in horror, and the Director messaged the bridge of her nose.

Subject 3 sensed the presences of many more Erasers coming from above and below, and many experiment staying silent in their cells. Let them stay there; if they unwittingly entered the fray, the girl would cut them down as well. Bust as for the Erasers coming from below, time to set a trap.

All of the Erasers coming from below totaled as 65, and all were making their way up the stair well on the other side of the floor. Subject 3 gathered up several belts of grenades, put her combi stick in the conveniently placed crook on her top dorsal tubes where it rested without moving, and sprinted over to the other stairs at over 80 miles an hour.

She was on floor 40, the Erasers were on floor 47 and climbing. You could see and hear them making their way up here, their boots clanging against the metal. So the girl gave them a little greeting present. She pulled the pins on all of the belts she had grabbed, waited for them cook, before she dropped them down the stairs.

They all exploded right in the middle of the approaching platoon, engulfing the stairs in an inescapable inferno.

Back in the security room, the Director groaned as another swath of Erasers just flat-lined. She put a finger to her earpiece and got Ari on the horn, "Commander, take your men and occupy the 10th floor. Subject 3 is most likely on her way up as we speak, and since you're the one that killed the Flock, she'll probably go out of her way to kill you, but I trust that you'll be able to handle her with your _129_ soldiers. Good luck."

Ari's face went slack. "Change of plans men, we're heading up to the 10th floor to head off Subject 3." The small army groaned, both at having to climb up 15 flights of stairs, and at having to fight Subject 3, but the about faced and sprinted back up the stair anyway.

Back with Subject 3, the young girl of eleven was leaping soundlessly up the flights of stairs, reading the minds of those conspiring above her. So Ari was going to wait for her on the tenth floor, huh? Good, that made one out of three targets easier to get to. Groves and the Director were on the first floor, which meant they were on the second floor of the above-ground facility. Those other scientists weren't anything to worry about, because they had no real involvement in Subject 3's life, but she would kill them if they entered her eye sight.

The daughter of Poseidon raced upwards. Before she came to a screeching halt on the 21st floor. There was an inferno on the lower floors slowly working its way up…why leave it down there alone?

Subject 3 burst into one of the labs on the floor she was on, ignoring the corpses that had found ways to destroy themselves. Using her knowledge on chemistry that she had taken from x-amount of crackpots, the girl whipped a simple chemical concoction that would exponentially increase the rate the fire would burn, and would 'chase after' the chemical trail like a lost puppy.

The chemical trail being Subject 3 in this case.

Satisfied that the fire would be following her shortly, the demigoddess resumed her ascent to the 10th floor uninterrupted, aside from the occasional explosion from the fire interacting with the chemicals in a lab as it burned upward.

Subject 3 reached the 10th floor and kicked down the doors with enough force to send them flying across the floor. The best thing about this floor was there was absolutely nothing on it. Top to bottom was ten feet, and side to side was 400 feet of pristine white floors, walls, and ceiling that was all bathed in dim red light.

The only thing between her and the door on the other side of the floor was a small army of 130 fully armed Erasers on their knee with guns pointed at her, with Ari standing in the middle of all of them. "Excuse me, but would you mind _dying_ really quick please?"

The Erasers unloaded their machine guns, all one hundred something bullets ripping through the air, almost all of them hitting their intended target. Most of the mutts launched their grenades, all of them exploding within three feet of Subject 3. By the time all of them were out of ammo, the area around Subject 3 was shrouded in smoke and covered in bullet holes.

The Princess of Death walked out of the smoke like a wraith. She reached behind her and pulled out her combi stick, making the blades extend with lethal intent. Instead of trying to reload their guns, the Erasers did the stupid thing and engaged in melee combat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, during the Winter Solstice meeting on Olympus_

Hades sat on his throne of bones, resting his chin on his fist. He listened with deaf ears as one of nieces or nephews droned on about the happenings of the past year. The residents of Camp Half-Blood and Artemis' closet lesbian group were present, and most of them paid rapt attention to the proceedings, giddy and excited to be in the presence of their parents.

The God of the Underworld had yet to get on board with this whole 'family-bonding' thing that Zeus had set up. During the Solstice days, the Sky God had allowed the Olympians to visit with their children until midnight. Zeus had Thalia, Poseidon was beginning to give up hope on finding Percy, and Hades had zero faith that his youngest sibling wouldn't kill Nico and Bianca with his precious Master Bolt.

Hence the Underworld God's displeasure at being here right now.

Then Hades sensed a stream of souls flood into his domain, all of them coming from one location. A ghost of a smirk, barely visible yet cold enough to freeze magma, tugged at Hades' lips. A quite chuckle escaped him at the thought of his niece _finally_ destroying that place. A mental command to his Furies and every mortal that entered was taken straight to the Fields of Punishment.

Interesting ways that they died, though. Such deaths reminded the Dark God of Hitler's Final Solution.

His earlier chuckle did not go unnoticed however, because all conversation was stopped, and Zeus asked, "Is there something you find amusing here, brother?"

Hades' answer was as smooth as his hair, "Not here, no. But elsewhere in the world, a lot of corrupt souls are suffering the consequences of their deeds in life…and are finding no solace in my Underworld."

The Olympians just nodded slowly; Uncle Hades always did creep them out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Director sighed as she watched the surveillance footage of Subject 3 literally ripping apart Erasers. Such a naughty little girl, throwing a temper tantrum like this. When this was all over, Marian was going to brainwash that brat to infancy and re-raise her to be a _proper_ daughter. Sure the first few years would be rough, having to teach her how to walk, read, and write, but at least diaper changes, potty training, and bedwetting wouldn't be an issue since Subject 3 didn't eat or drink anything. But would boys be a problem?

The School shook lightly as another lab detonated somewhere below, that bloody fire eating through everything it came into contact with. Damn that girl, starting a fire that was killing countless experiments down there and was quickly making its way up the floors.

Looking at the person on the computer nearest to her, the Director rested her hand on their shoulder. "This facility is lost. Begin transferring data to the Ship and gas every room from here to wherever there isn't a fire." The technician nodded and began execute her orders. Marian Janssen discreetly made her way out of the security room, the top scientists slowly shuffling out with her.

"What's the plan, ma'am?" one of the asked.

The Director stopped, and the men behind her stopped as well. The woman's eyes turned bright red and her pupils elongated into reptilian slits ringed in yellow. "The plan? The plan is for all of you to die!" She whirled around, gun in hand, and put bullets into the heads of everyone but Groves. He still had that smirk on his face that never seemed to vanish.

"I want you to gather every Titan, Venom, TN-1, and every other combat experiment you can think of, and barricade the motor pool with them. You and I will be leaving for the airfield where we'll get on a plane and head for the Ship. Now go, and don't die!"

Groves nodded and bolted down the hallway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The 10th floor was littered with death. Only a handful of Erasers were left now, each of them barely able to stand with the amount of trembling they were doing. Watching videos of mass-murder was one thing, watching a little girl commit mass-murder with a combination of spear, tail, claws, arms, legs, guns, grenades, acid, head, body, ceiling, floor, internal organs, teeth, other bodies, limbs, and fucked up mental images…was another thing entirely.

Subject 3 hissed at the remaining Erasers. They tried to turn tail and run, but a streak of black violently removed all of their heads in a shower of blood, further giving the floor a new paintjob. Now only Ari remained.

The son of Jeb pulled out his gun and began approaching his foe, both of them stepping over bodies and sloshing through viscera. Ari had the unfortunate experience of stepping into someone's sternum, because of the gaping hole where it was supposed to be. The Princess of Death crushed more than a few skulls underfoot.

Ari unloaded clip after clip at the girl, each .50 cal bullet bouncing harmlessly off of her exoskeleton. Not even the few stray bullets that hit the front of her genitalia or her eyes had any effect. The Eraser tore off his helmet with a snarl, but the momentary blindness he had was enough for S-3 to move.

She flipped over Ari and twisted in midair, landing behind him. The Eraser whirled around, only to have a massive amount of pressure slam onto both sides of his head. His face contorted into one of anger and he tried to pry off Subject 3's hands, to no avail. The girl's eyes narrowed and her teeth gnashed together…then Ari's skull crumpled into a mess of blood and matter.

S-3 studied the corpse, before a thought hit her. She felt vindictive as she reached down and picked up Ari's Desert Eagle. Nickel-plated and shiny with standard muzzle break, and a grip made out of black pearl. It was as elegant as it was lethal. She tore a page out of the Yautja's book and took it as a trophy, strapping the gun's holster to her thigh and sliding the Eagle inside of it.

The daughter of Poseidon looked at herself. She was _bathed_ in blood; her mouth was stained red, her nails hand been painted vermillion, her tail dripped with crimson, and her body had been dressed in scarlet. Against her black exoskeleton, and the dim red lighting, she looked like something that rose from the depths of Hell itself.

Expanding her senses, she felt nothing for those poor souls below that were either burning alive, or had been gassed with white phosphorus. The fire climbed, steadily following the chemical trail that surrounded her body. Janssen and Groves were about drive away in a—

Fuck.

Subject 3 exploded into motion, streaking through the floors in a blur of black and red. She reached the third floor, the first floor below ground level, blitzed through the halls and labs at impossible speeds, and broke down the doors to the titular motor pool. The young girl did her best to ignore the images that flashed through her mind regarding this place. They would die, they would all die…for the Flock.

The Director was about to close the door to her souped-up Humvee after Groves climbed in, but the scientist stopped when the motor pool doors were blown off. He and Marian shared a look, before the old man slammed the door, and the Humvee burned out before zooming down the tunnel to the airfield 10 miles away.

Now it was a race against time.

Subject 3 gazed around the cavern that was the motor pool. Rock walls and ceiling, high roof, concrete platform before it slid down into an area where there were about a hundred vehicles ranging from motorcycles to military tanks. There was also the small army of muscle-men between her and Groves.

The Director was driving off, but she would die in due course.

It seemed those two had pulled every resource they had. The motor pool was filled with the overly-muscular Venom-enhanced, the hulking monstrosities that were Titans, and the disgusting giants that were on TN-1. Oh God…this was annoying.

Groves smirked at this opportunity to observe how Subject 3 fought against overwhelming odds. He gestured with his arm, and the army of monsters roared, a sound that shook the cave, before they all charged at the girl less than a forth of any of their sizes.

Poisonous green eyes narrowed, and instead of committing another round of genocide via physical violence, a black foot stomped the earth, releasing a seismic shockwave that collapsed the entire area in front of Subject 3, along with many of the floors beneath it. The muscle monsters screamed as they fell into the rising inferno several floors below. Groves blinked, "Oh…"

Wait, where did Subject 3 go?

The good doctor howled as something large and sharp stabbed into his anus, and then _slowly_ began to snake its way through his anatomy. Groves' screams turned into gags, and then into inaudible gurgles, as the invasive object erupted from the back of throat and out of his mouth.

Subject 3 raised her tail up, lifting Groves off the floor. Tongues of flame were licking up from the hole she had made. The Princess of Death flicked her tail, sending the corpse sliding off and into the fire.

The School rumbled as the seismic shockwave that was fired earlier, and the inferno, began to collapse the entire facility. Many lives were ended as the structure collapsed. Subject 3 wasted no time in hitting all-fours and blurring down the tunnel, narrowly avoiding bit of stone as it collapsed around her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

From an aerial view of the Badwater Basin, one would shit their pants as they watched the entire thing begin to _sink_ into the earth from a single point, like it was a bathtub and someone pulled out the drain clog.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, at the Airfield_

The Director smirked as she climbed into her personal aircraft, a vehicle literally straight out of science fiction. Someone high up in the Airforce had watched anime when they were young, and had put in a request to have a batch of transforming planes made. It had cost a little over $500,000,000 for each plane built, and a shit-ton of time to get the gears and systems to function correctly without malfunction or explosion, but after fifteen years, the R&D department had been happy to present Marian Janssen with four prototype jets ready and fueled for take-off, with piolets in the other three.

These prototype jets were called 'Veritechs.'

They were designed after the U.S. Airforce's Tomcats, with three different modes: 1) fighter mode, 2) guardian mode (in which the thrusters would detach to become legs, and hidden, mechanical arms would reveal themselves), and 3) battloid (in which the entire plane would transform into a humanoid robot the size of a two-story house). Each plane came equipped with six air-to-surface Hellfire missiles and six air-to-air AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles. The main weapon was the GU-11 gun pod, an under mounted cannon that doubled as the guardian's and battloid's gun as well, that fired condensed plasma rounds until the oversized cartridge ran out of energy. Secondary weapons were nose-mounted canons that also fired plasma bursts, albeit at a much smaller magnitude. Each Veritech came equipped with state of the art detection systems, shielding, communication, fuel systems, and, of course, flares.

Subject 3 zoomed out of the collapsing tunnel with time to spare, but arrived just in time to see four F-14 Tomcat-esque jets lining a runway. In the lead plane, was the most infuriating sight on earth: Marian sitting in the cockpit, giving a peace sign and a smirk before she blasted down the runway and took off into the gathering storm clouds with a boom.

The second jet soon followed, then the third. Before the fourth pilot could get rolling, the enraged telepath ripped his mind to shreds, instantly learning how to fly the Veritech. The plane began to drive, its pilot turned into a vegetable. Technicians and personnel panicked as they saw Subject 3 dart onto the plane open the cockpit and throw the pilot out onto the tarmac with a splat.

The daughter of Poseidon hopped and closed the glass. She began to flip switches, press buttons, and put on the admittedly cool helmet with red stripes on the top of it. She turned the nob on the side of the helmet, causing the built-in shades to cover her eyes. Subject 3 pulled back on the joystick, and was airborne at 200 mph.

A dogfight to destroy a city was about to begin, millions were about to die, and a daughter was about to be revealed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Yay! We're on a roll again with this story!**_

 _ **The top was graphic, and I made myself cringe with everything I came up with, but I think it shows just how ruthless Subject 3 has become.**_

 _ **If you think I went over the top with the fancy jet plane, I agree. But this is my story and I said 'fuck it, let's make it awesome.' If you don't like it, tough. If you have any idea what I just described and are as giddy as I am, let me know.**_

 _ **Finally, I need some names for Subject 3. Persephone, Thalassa, Perci, all of those have been used in every fem!Percy story ever made, even my own. I was leaning more towards something Greco/Roman. My own choice is going to be Asteria, after the Goddess of Falling Stars, but if I get something better, I will shout-out to you as the winner. Please, no Nyx. That was my first thought, but it felt cliché.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_

 _ **Happy Independence Day! What's left of it!**_


	15. Revelations

_Revelations_

 _ **Reviews! Holy crap, I had almost forgotten what it was like to have reviews show up in my Inbox. Thank you all for the wonderful support. Lots of name suggestions I saw, very good, but I didn't see anything that really kicked me in the balls.**_

 _ **But enough of that. On with the carnage!**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ Go look at every other chapter

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Olympus_

 _Throne room_

 _12:27 P.M._

Hades was periodically chuckling throughout the meeting, everyone doing their best to ignore the creepy god. The children were getting anxious to be with their parents, and Athena loved to hear her own voice. Poseidon was trying to merge with his throne, a defeated look on his face. He kept sensing spikes in geokinetic energy around the Death Valley area, but that region was always trembling. Artemis was watching what appeared to be the mother of all forest fires begin to spread out from the Badwater Basin, heading Northwest.

Zeus…he was getting bored with this thing. He wanted to be with his daughter, dammit! He slouched in his throne, Master Bolt in hand; he was seriously debating whether or not to call this shit early, when something foreign suddenly streaked straight into his domain.

The King of the Gods bolted upright in his throne, drawing everyone's attention. His face was one of confusion, anger, and surprise. "What in Chaos…?"

"Brother, are you alright?" Hades asked with a strange grin on his face.

"No, not really. Why does it feel like a female sea-spawn is doing aerial combat in the skies above Death Valley?" Zeus asked with narrowed eyes at Poseidon. "I thought you only had a son?"

The Sea god looked just as surprised as everyone else, "Brother, I…I don't know. I swear on the River Styx that I'm just as lost as you are." Thunder rumbled, and when Poseidon didn't keel over with a massive migraine, Zeus relented his electric-blue stare.

Hades suddenly laughed loudly, a deep, throaty sound that caused the shadows to ripple and the air to grow cold. "Finally, after five years of following their orders, their grand plan is unravelling at the seams."

"What are you rambling on about now, Hades?" Demeter asked condescendingly.

Pitch-black eyes met forest-green ones, and the Goddess of Agriculture realized that she wasn't talking to Son-In-Law-Hades, she was talking to Big-Three-God-Hades. "What I'm _rambling on about_ , dear sister, is Poseidon's daughter. Affectionately referred to by many dead people as 'Subject 3.'"

Blank stares, dropped jaws, and wide eyes were the most common facial features shown.

Before mayhem could ensue, Zeus pointed his bolt towards his fancy door, before discharging a blast that transformed into a real-time, 1080p, Hi-Definition, circular screen that was viewable from all angles, and was showing an airplane that resembled the F-17 Tomcat, with a young girl in the cockpit. The girl was unnaturally dark-skinned, with a Masei 911 helmet colored red. Artemis and her Huntresses gasped.

"Who is that, and why is she in my skies!?"

"That is Poseidon's daughter."

"I don't _have_ a demigod daughter!"

"As of August 18, 1999, you did."

"That's Percy's birthday…what are you talking about, Hades!" Poseidon roared, trident in hand.

The God of the Underworld sighed. This was going to be one helluva conversation. "Five years ago, I sensed an unusual amount souls start to pour in from a single isolated location, so I sent Thanatos to investigate. He found a six-year-old girl with sea-green eyes, that had an aura resembling that of your child. Yes, I instantly realized it was your son. No, it was a bunch of mortals experimenting with DNA that somehow warped his gender. Yes, I tried to extract her from there, but other entities stopped me from doing anything."

" _What—entities!"_ The Sea God was borderline going True-Form in pure rage. The demigods had scrambled to their parents' thrones, Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth sharing looks with each other. They knew that girl.

Hades smirked before looking up at the ceiling, **"Fates! Get down here!"** Amazingly, the daughters of Ananke descended upon the throne room in brilliant flashes of white. They looked as ancient as ever, dressed in their grey robes. Gods and demigods alike bowed either slightly or tried to kiss the floor. Hades sat in his throne, smirking, and Poseidon looked ready to pull an ancient-timer and sink a coastal city.

"How dare you take my son—!"

"Silence," the Fates spoke at once, "the show is about to begin."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Director scowled as the control tower she just launched from informed her that the fourth Veritech had been hijacked, before communication went static after what sounded like screaming and a rush of flame. Signaling the two Veritechs flanking her, the pilots pulled back in twin arcs. Marian thought it was 50/50 on their survival chances. Subject 3's skill, or their superior pilots training?

Oh well, what was more important was the gigantic wall of death in front of her that crackled with lightning, and the glowing lights down on the ground that seemed to be following them.

And the approaching fourth Veritech. That was also a big problem.

Subject 3's eyes narrowed beneath her helmet. She didn't need radar to tell that two bogies were quickly approaching from the front, her eyes were enough to see them coming from miles away. They were too far out to try and read their minds, but that soon be remedied.

The three fighter jets approached each other at 600 mph, and S-3 pulled the joystick back hard, angling the nose straight at the atmosphere, and threw the throttle forward, causing her to soar higher and higher. Alarms blared as the radar-lock systems activated, signaling the approach of missiles.

The daughter of Poseidon pulled back more, making her plane arc before zooming back down. She pulled down a knob labeled 'G,' causing the Veritech to whir as it changed configuration. Instantly, the fighter plane was now flying forward with a pair of legs beneath it, and arms in front of it, the right hand clutching tightly to the gun pod. Seeing the missiles flying brightly through the night, Subject 3 ignored her targeting systems, and instead focused on her raptor-vision.

She squeezed the trigger on her joystick, causing the large gun to hum as it spat out rapid blasts of yellow-colored energy with a vengeance. The bolts of super-heated plasma zoomed through the night sky, and prematurely detonated the swarm of missiles. A smirk adorned the child's face as her plan succeeded.

The two Veritechs had split up, one coasting along the desert floor below, and one flying on an altitude a few hundred feet up, according to radar and her eyes. At this distance, electro-sensing didn't work. Which one to after first…

The answer came from a stream a plasma rushing up to meet her from below. The guardian-configured Veritech barrel-rolled to avoid the incoming fire before its pilot switched back to fighter mode. Subject 3 blasted down to the earth, spinning and weaving around the upcoming gunfire.

She locked on to the guardian below, and fired one of her AMRAAMs. The missile blitzed down at Mach 2. The enemy swerved around, but the pilot didn't have the reflexes to avoid the missile, so he ejected from his Veritech just before it exploded…but Subject 3 tore his body apart with a spurt from her nose-canons.

She switched to guardian mode and glided across the desert like an ice skater, instead of trying to fight gravity, before she pulled up and switched back to fighter mode. As she flew back into the clouds, her enhanced vision caught a glimpse of thruster fire in the clouds, so she unloaded on the surrounding area.

A flash of fire signaled the explosion of the second Veritech. Screaming upwards, Subject 3's wing cleaved the flailing man in the falling chair in half, in an explosion of gore. Levelling out and cruising over the Sierra Nevada mountains, the demigoddess used her super-vision to scan the peaks below, searching angrily for the Director. No sign of that bitch, but she did see a billowing inferno slowly making its way across the state of California.

Radar flared and Subject 3 dived straight down…avoiding the sneak attack by Marian Janssen.

The demigoddess felt her gut clench as her rage spiked. Elsewhere in the clouds, lighting flashed brightly. She swerved, yawed, rolled, and pitched in a deadly dance with the Director's gun, narrowly avoiding the streams of plasma-fire. Marian was good, and it made the girl's lips pull into a vicious grin: nothing was better than prey that fought back.

Diving down into the mountain range itself, the stray blasts from the chasing Veritech began to blow apart the Sierra Nevada. Bursts of plasma slammed into the ground, the cliffsides, and towering masses of granite, lighting them all up in a dazzling display of fire and explosions.

Finally deciding that she was wasting ammo, Janssen launched all of AMRAAMs, the six missiles instantly locking onto Subject 3's Veritech. At this distance of only about 350 feet, the missiles instantly went into the terminal phase and lived up to their 'fire-and-forget' reputation.

Subject 3 threw down the throttle, a sonic boom denoting the Sound Barrier being broken. The missiles on her tail began to fall behind as her speed increased by the dozens of miles, steadily climbing to Mach 2, then 3. The demigoddess zoomed over the mountains, barely avoiding some of the higher peaks.

The missiles were further behind, but still chasing her tail. Slowing to a subsonic speed, the girl went into a steep dive just over the top of a mountain. The AMRAAMs were still tracking her, the missiles themselves lack the software to avoid solid objects, so they all exploded when they careened into the top of a mountain.

As Subject 3 entered her race against death, The Director pointed her Veritech towards Berkeley, and was off like a shot. She activated her commlink, getting the captain of the Ship to pick up the secure phone, _"Madam Director. I trust things are going smoothly?"_

"Not exactly. I'm having some trouble with a bratty little girl in desperate need of a spanking. I need you to launch all available fighters you have on deck, and prepare the Black Hawks for extraction of Priority Package."

" _As you wish, ma'am. If you don't mind me asking, who's the Priority Package."_

"Code name: Subject 3."

 _*Gasp* "_ _The_ _Subject 3? The one who's killed over one-thousand opponents? The one that all others fear? The one that's been called the 'Princess of Death'? That Subject 3?"_

"…yes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _On Olympus_

Ares had conjured up some popcorn for himself and his kids, and all of them were happily munching on buttery goodness, while the other people in the room had varying reactions. Zeus was watching with a gaping jaw, Hera was watching with a neutral expression, Poseidon had the most comical horrified expression, Athena and her kids were analyzing and strategizing, Apollo, Hermes, Dionysus, Aphrodite, and Demeter's kids were enjoying the show, Artemis and her daughters were paying rapt attention to the girl they saw in Antarctica, Hephaestus and his children were predictably in awe over the Veritechs, Hestia tended to the hearth with a sad expression, Hades was full-blown grinning, and the Fates were using their power to keep everyone's focus on the screen instead of them.

Thalia was feeling equal parts jealous and fear. Jealous because she was the daughter of the Sky God, and she couldn't do any of the stuff her younger cousin was doing, and fear because that damnable window was showing things from several thousand feet in the air, and that was scary to someone with acrophobia.

Meanwhile, Poseidon was now understanding what it meant to be an overprotective daddy. He wanted his baby girl right here, right now, and not in some fancy, transforming, flying, fucking, deathtrap!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Switching to guardian mode once more to skate across the ground, Subject 3 roared into the heavens. The clouds completely blanketed the sky, and her gut was clenching painfully. An impossibly large fire was shining across the mountains burning everything it came into contact with. The inferno was still being fed by chemicals, and was still tracking the chemical trail that her body left behind. Lighting occasionally flashed through the clouds, but any majesty it may have had was lost on the young girl, _due to her blinding rage!_

WHERE THE FUCK DID MARIAN SCURRY OFF TO NOW!?

She was heading Northwest in the beginning, so that's where Subject 3 gunned the thrusters. The sound barrier was once again broken, and steadily destroyed, as the girl roared across California, less than 30 feet from the ground.

The tailwind she generated had enough power behind it to tear a massive gash through the earth, a phenomenon that was quickly followed by an angry inferno as it scorched the world. Small towns were incinerated instantly by the intense flames, hundreds of lives ended in searing heat.

The genocidal daughter of Poseidon was rapidly approaching a town by the name of Turlock, when her radar beeped with signals. Fourteen of them actually. Fighter jets, all of them, most likely called into action by the long arm of the Director. Subject 3 snarled slightly, and yawed up to meet her new playthings. Heavy rains began to pour down upon the land, but they did nothing against the planes, or the chemically fueled fire. It seemed almost sentient, really, and it stretched all the way from the Badwater Basin to Turlock…and would only continue to grow as S-3 advanced.

She saw the planes before they saw her. Ironically, all of them were Tomcats. They flew in two V-formations, one behind the other. Lightning flashed, and a barrage of missiles was fired. In an impossible display of accuracy, the daughter of Poseidon switched to guardian mode, enhancing her mobility, and blew every single missile out of the sky.

Multiple explosions lit up the clouds.

The girl flew forward, and the formations scattered into controlled chaos. The fighters flew around erratically, like a swarm of insects, and Subject 3 barreled right into the middle. For the first time, she pulled down on the knob labeled 'B.'

The cockpit was pulled into the midsection of the Veritech, while the midsection was pulled forward. As the vehicle reconfigured, the cockpit was lit up in display screens showing the entire area in perfect 360-degree vision. Locking mechanisms released, and the thrusters came forward. The back of the plane separated slightly, and the entire machine began to fold. The legs locked into place, the engine vents now pointing straight up. Gears hummed and whirred, and a display showing a diagram of the Veritech came to life, showing that everything was green. The arms activated, the fingers of the mech splaying wide before gripping into fists. The gun pod popped out, before it was caught by the right arm. The head of the Veritech rose to the top of the shoulders, the cannons that were once in the nose now proudly displayed as 'ears.' The head's triangular shaped viewport glowed bright red, before fading.

Subject 3's battloid was ready for combat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, at Camp Jupiter_

Young Jason Grace was asleep in the Fifth Cohort barracks. It was past ten o'clock, and the praetors had ordered curfew to be at 9:30, so every legion member could have a good night's rest before the next day of torture. However, that it not to say that the son of Jupiter was sleeping soundly.

Oh no, he was dreaming of a girl ripping apart bodies, an ocean of fire, and huge, humanoid robot valiantly fighting against a swarm of fighter jets.

In his top bunk, he tossed and turned, sweating enough to the point one could say he wet his bed. He groaned and gasped as if in pain, gripping his sheets as if they were a lifeline. Inside the barracks, legionaries of all kinds were being stirred awake by the nightmare-having demigod.

Most were downright annoyed at the noise, but then the massive boom of thunder that literally shook the camp had everyone scrambling outside to see what the Pluto just happened. It would've made for a comical sight, seeing a small army of teenagers dressed in either their pajamas, underwear, or in the nude, if not for the churning, roiling, lightning-wreathed storm cloud that was lightning up the night like a sun. The ground was shaking ever so slightly, and there was an orange glow on the nighttime horizon.

Everyone's first thought was that Jupiter was angry about something, then they all remembered that his _son_ was tossing around in his bunk. The praetors were the first to come to this conclusion, so they were the first ones to Jason's bunk.

The girl, a daughter of Venus with powerful, authoritative Charmspeak named Vanessa, and the boy, a son of Mercury whose speed with every weapon in the armory was unmatched, named Damian, tried to wake Jason. Vanessa, being the more maternal of the two, was able to coax the boy awake with gentle nudges and a firm voice.

Jason's electric-blue eyes snapped open, a crazed yet terrified look in them as they stared into Vanessa's pink ones. Before the cohort standing silently behind their praetors could do anything, Jason bolted out of his bunk, tearing past all those in front of him. Some of the larger members tried grabbing the boy, but a discharge of electricity knocked anyone on their asses.

Vanessa screamed at Jason to stop with her Charmspeak, but the son of Jupiter only hesitated and tripped over himself before popping back up and making a beeline for the top of Temple Hill.

Highly confused and having nothing better to do, the Twelfth Legion raced after the wayward demigod, everyone intent on finding out what on earth was happening.

Jason ignored his burning lungs and aching legs as he scrambled to the top of Temple Hill, the Legion right behind him. He blitzed past the gigantic, golden statue of his father, skidding to stop at the highest point in New Rome. Vanessa and Damian came to a stop behind him, both of them panting lightly.

"Now do you mind telling us what on earth you think you're doing?" Damian demanded. Jason was silent, his eyes wide and mouth agape, staring off into the distance. Vanessa tried her Charmspeak, but the son of Jupiter wasn't listening, his mind not even present at the moment. A son of Mars, fed up with the lack of explanation, lumbered up and was about to get violent with the punk…when a jet plane came sailing out of the sky in a ball of fire.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 let loose a string of very unlady-like curses. The battle with the Tomcats was intense, but easy. The battloid was more maneuverable than any jet plane of helicopter, so she was able to dodge missiles and streams of bullets with almost practiced ease. It was just that the Tomcats were fast and numerous, which to a lot of dodging while trying to shoot at fast-moving targets. She managed to shoot down eight of the jets though, before _fucking Janssen_ dropped right in the middle of the dogfight.

Now, on top of dealing with seven jet planes buzzing around her, she also had to deal with another Veritech while in a machine that didn't respond as fluidly as her own body when giving commands. That had led to an epic aerial battle across the state, two Veritechs firing massive streams of plasma at each other, while avoiding them all the same.

On top of support fighters, too.

Subject 3 had proven her impressive skill in the pilot's seat, shooting down three more Tomcats while playing a deadly game with the Director's battloid. The girl put up a valiant fight, but she was overwhelmed. One moment in the battle had cost her. The demigoddess's attention had been solely focused on Marian, that she had completely lost track of the other planes.

One of them had landed a hit on her battloid's leg, damaging it beyond repair, destabilizing the entire Veritech. The Director had taken the presented opening to pepper Subject 3 with light fire, further damaging everything. With the main engine damaged, and using everything she had to stay aloft, the child had managed to revert to fighter mode, and had dogged her way down to land.

Unfortunately, the landing was a crash landing, the impact jarring the Princess of Death in way she had never felt before, rattling her brain around. It also didn't help that the plasma rounds that had blasted her battloid…had also hit her as well. Her body was extremely temperature resistant, but she had just taken on _plasma_ and would (probably) live to tell about it.

She had never felt this much pain in her life, not even when she had the Xenomorph DNA warp her genetic structure did she feel this much pain. She was barely conscious right now, with bits of her exoskeleton actually glowing orange from where she had been hit.

She was fighting a losing battle with consciousness right now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The denizens of New Rome all gathered at the edge of the Field of Mars. An airplane had just crash-landed in the middle of their battlefield, wreathed in flames, why would they not come to see what was happening. No-one could see into the cockpit, because the glass was tinted.

Jason was about to go investigate, but the strong arms of Vanessa held him back.

That's when four planes went zooming over the camp, their tailwind booming over the Mist-hidden city. The sound of an active engine drew all attention to the alien-looking plane that was descending…upon a pair of legs. The craft landed with a thump, and then the cockpit was opened, a beautiful woman with wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and glasses, and a business suit with a lab coat over it jumping out, and landing easily despite the ten-foot drop between her and the ground.

The woman walked brusquely over to the burning plane, her blue eyes narrowed. She was apparently mortal, because if she saw a city modeled after Ancient Rome, she did a good job of hiding her surprise.

Another sound made itself present to the New Romans: helicopter blades. Over the Berkeley Hills, four Black Hawk choppers came cruising. They hovered over the crash site, the side doors opening up, and lines were dropped down. Shortly after, men in black gear slid down the ropes and set up a perimeter.

The woman raised her fist and smashed through the cockpit like it was made of tinfoil, impressive, shocking, and scaring many people. What the woman pulled _out_ of the cockpit though, made everyone gasp in surprise. A young girl, probably Jason's age, covered in glowing burns, was pulled out by the woman.

The girl was just as alien as the woman's plane. Black skin, a bladed-tail, tubes coming out of her back, and she was completely naked. Vanessa clamped her hands over Jason's eyes, and many other girls did the same to the surrounding boys.

"Get Subject 3 to the Ship, now!" the woman yelled over the roaring blades, the howling winds, and the booming thunder.

The men nodded, one of them carefully wrapping the girl in a blanket before being hauled up the cable to the Black Hawk. The woman strolled back over to her plane, hopped into the cockpit, and began to rise up into the sky. The helicopters began to fly away, the strange plane following after them slowly.

"What just happened?" someone asked.

It was Jason that answered, his voice quiet and filled with fear, "They just kidnapped the daughter of Neptune."

Then the fire washed over the hills.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, on Olympus_

" **I'll kill her! I'll kill her dead!"** Poseidon was being restrained by his brothers, his sisters, Artemis, and Hermes. Would you be calm if you just watched your daughter get shot down by foul play and then captured again by mortals?

The demigods were confused as to why the Sea God was so enraged. It was just a static-y screen. For some reason, the thing went blank when the second round of the dogfight began, but the gods were still paying rapt attention. Only the Huntresses (besides Thalia) knew what was happening. The Olympians didn't want the Greeks to see the Romans.

The Fates narrowed their collective eyes. This was most unforeseen. Percy's defeat was not expected, but neither was the mortal's resources. How infuriating it was to have been around for so many millennia's, and not account for the Director's reach. The girl was lucky to have such powerful skin, otherwise all of that plasma would've melted holes through her body, and that was not something that was needed.

Nor was Percy being captured again.

But it was either heal the girl and doom Berkeley/the surrounding area to oblivion, or let her be captured again and fall into the hands of more mortals, possibly dooming the entire human race and Olympus itself.

With a tragic sigh, the Fates went with the lesser of the two evils: they woke up the Beast.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3, for a rare moment in her screwed up life, was dreaming. Right now, she was dreaming of the Flock. But the dream wasn't of the Flock in the School, it was of the Flock…free.

There was an 'E' shaped house on stilts, perched on the edge of a mountain. It was a beautiful place, wide blue skies, mountain ranges that captured the light the light of the sun as it rose high into the sky, and endless fields of grass.

The bird-kids were in a field of strawberries. Max, Nudge, and Angel were wearing simple, brightly colored summer dresses, and the boys were dressed in shorts and t-shirts. Iggy and Nudge were close together as they picked the wild-grown strawberries, Angel and Gazzy played around in the field, laughing and cheering in delight, and Max and Fang watched over everything while they held each other in their arms.

It was a perfect sight.

The sound of jet plane was heard, but the Flock didn't seem to hear it. The sound of engines got louder and closer, but they still didn't do anything. Then, barreling out of the sky, was a Veritech. At the controls was none other than the Director, a mad grin on her face.

Subject 3 screamed out desperately for them move, but her voice, both physically and telepathically, wasn't working, and neither was her body.

The Director howled with laughter as she squeezed the trigger, streams of plasma billowing from the gun pod like the breath of a dragon. The blue sky turned red as fire engulfed the mountains. The Flock, the poor, poor Flock, was blown apart in showers of blood.

The world faded to black, but the dream was not over. Instead, the distraught girl found herself on her knees, unshed tears suspended in her eyes. Laying in front of her in this dark place was the bullet-ridden bodies of six familiar children. Blood pooled around their face-down bodies…then they stirred, and stood up.

They were the definition of horror.

Max had a massive hole in her head, letting all see her brains as blood dripped down her face. Fang's body was riddled with bullet wounds, his shirt and pants shredded as blood and bits of his intestines dripped from his eye-less body. Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel were much the same, crimson liquid soaking their dead bodies, holes in their heads and other places.

" _You let us die!"_ they screamed in unison. _"You could have saved us years ago, but you didn't! Instead, you became a freak, a monster, a murderer!"_

The Flock began to get bigger, their bodies growing to gargantuan sizes, towering over the poor girl as their animated corpses reached for the stars.

" _You let us die!"_

" _You let us die!"_

" _You let us die!"_

" _You let us die!"_

" _You let us die!"_

Subject 3 fell down, down, down, into an endless abyss. The bloody faces of the Flock swirled around, chanting, chanting, chanting endlessly about how she had let them die, die, die. A burning light shined beneath the falling girl, its heat licking at her as she fell. The faces swirled around violently, forming an incoherent twister of reds and skins, their voices deafening and booming.

Percy Jackson fell into the inferno, and the Flock screamed one last thing:

" _ **AVENGE US!"**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

" _But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare._

 _2 Peter 3:10_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **[Genocyber OST: Genocide]**

Subject 3's poisonous green eyes snapped wide open, glowing with primal fury. The helicopter exploded as the Apocalypse was unleashed upon the world. The girl fell to the city of Berkeley below, but anyone that paused to look and stare was toasted alive by the fiery ocean that washed over the nearby hills. The almost sentient flames tore across the city in a wave of fiery death.

The girl's face contorted into one of pain as the tubes on her back extended several feet, before poisonous green energy spread between the tubes, forming a pair of wings. Another mutation.

Subject 3 rose into the air, fire trailing after her.

Meanwhile, a 747 was circling around, looking to land at either the Oakland International Airport, or the San Francisco one, but both control towers waved them off due to intense seismic activity, and the godlike wildfire that was spilling over all three cities.

In her Veritech, desperately weaving around through forest of lighting in front of her, the Director called the Ship, "Captain! Deploy the fighters!"

" _They're already there, ma'am!"_ the captain screamed. He sounded panicked, _"We're taking a pounding out here! I've never seen a storm like this before!"_

The Director scowled. This was all that girl's fault!

Subject 3 soared down a back alley, the surrounding buildings crumbling into nothing before being melted into slag by the fire. Massive fissures erupted across Berkeley, San Francisco, and Oakland. The gates of Hell seemed to have opened up. The sky glowed orange, and red lightning blasted against the clouds. Skyscrapers had become pillars of flame, and mayhem had exploded across the cities.

People ran around in panic, cars drove wildly, and they just had no idea what to do. Bridges and overheads collapsed due to earthquakes and fire, sending hundreds of cars falling to a fiery death. In the streets, woman tried desperately to make it into a building, her five-year-old daughter screaming from her place on her mother's shoulder.

The fire washed over them, burning off their clothes and melting their skin. In almost no time at all, their bones were charring.

Subject 3 soared into the sky, right through the middle of the four fighters that were approaching the Inferno. Three of them were cleaved in half, while the forth one managed to get away. The pilot circled around, bearing down on the figure with the glowing wings.

"Let's goooooo!" the pilot roared.

Subject 3 screeched return.

The two clashed, and a beam of light shot straight up into the orange clouds, lighting them up with booming thunder. The pilot screamed as his plane was forcefully flown straight into the nose of the 747. The two planes exploded, the jumbo jet nose diving right into the skyscrapers of San Francisco, tearing through the structures and ripping apart steel beams. Most of them collapsed in the fiery sea, causing tidal waves of flame to wash over what was left of the city.

Berkeley and Oakland were all but ash as well. Most of the infrastructure having collapsed, and the buildings collapsing on themselves due to heat and destabilization. Richter scales across the planet were going haywire over what was happening in California. News channels were scrambling to cover things as it happened, but choppers were being blown out of the air, either due to lightning or hurricane force winds.

NASA and other space institutes were receiving live space images of California. What they saw had every expert and technician stunned in silence. A bright light trailed from Death Valley all the way across the state to the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco. Above those cities, a massive hurricane had formed, covering the entire area in nature's wrath.

 **[End OST]**

The Olympians and their children could only watch in stunned horror and sadness as the rage of Poseidon's daughter consumed millions. Hades was receiving cries of outrage from Charon over the amount of souls flooding into the lobby. Thanatos was giving his boss updates as often as he could, the Reaper not having to do this much work since World War Two.

Poseidon was openly crying over how much destruction his daughter was bringing about, all because of what a mortal had done to her. Zeus had his hand on his brother's shoulder, trying to be there for Poseidon. The younger children present were clinging to their older siblings or parents, crying loudly about the scary images. Most everyone had tears in their eyes; even Ares and his children couldn't bring themselves to find joy in this conflict.

The Fates were getting worried however. They knew it would be bad, but this was over-the-top. Curse that damn mortal, curse the Ancient Laws, and curse Jesus for letting a person like Marian Janssen live.

"What are we going to do, sisters?" Clotho asked quietly. "If this continues, the girl is going to burn herself up from the amount of power she's using."

"As well as spread her vengeance over the entire region," Atropos added.

Lachesis nodded grimly, "Both of you are correct. However, we need not panic just yet. If this conflict is not resolved within the next ten minutes, we may have to consider the Backup Plan…"

Clotho looked at her sister, "Are you sure he would even cooperate without causing even more destruction?"

"No. But he would easily be able to bring the girl to heal."

"Yes but bringing him here would cause many unwanted questions between him, his counterpart, and everyone else present," Atropos added. The Fates turned their attention back to the screen, all silently debating the pros and cons of bringing Shin'en into the fray.

At Camp Jupiter, campers and citizens watched safely behind Terminus's border as fire consumed everything in sight. Jason couldn't comprehend this, and neither could anyone. The son of Jupiter just _knew_ that the girl was his cousin, a daughter of Neptune, but this was unreal. So much fire, so much destruction, so much chaos, so much _death_.

"Pay close attention Jason," a female voice said suddenly, causing everyone to jump back at the appearance of a large, rust-colored wolf. The goddess Lupa. "What you are seeing now is vengeance given form in the way of rage. A child this powerful hasn't been born since the Ancient Times. You are correct in your assumption that this is a daughter of Neptune, and her power is great…but so is yours." Silver eyes bored deep into electric blue ones.

"She is calling upon her powers as the Stormbringer, but your power over weather is superior to hers, due to your lineage as the son of Jupiter. Use you power Jason, and quell this growing storm before it rages even further out of control."

In any other circumstance, Jason would've shied away from using his godly abilities, but right now, he needed to do what he could to save lives.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Director hovered in the air in battloid mode, calmly observing the Inferno below. In her wildest dreams, the woman never thought that a being could hold so much power such as this. It was unreal, it was insane, it shouldn't have been possible, but the proof was right in front of her. Not even the water between the cities was spared from the flames.

There was the sound of something hitting her Veritech, before the screens began to flicker and distort, before shutting off completely. The battloid's head had just been ripped off by something with a ton of strength.

Subject 3 perched on top of her enemies mech, before stabbing her claws down into the mess of crackling wires. She screeched as she pulled in different directions. With a roar, the daughter of Poseidon _ripped_ the machine in half in a shower of sparks and electricity.

She glared down at the Director, her lips pulled back into a snarl.

Marian smirked as she leapt out of the useless chair, but instead of falling to her death, two _white wings_ burst from her back. Her eyes turned red, her pupils turned into slits, and rings of yellow surrounded her reptilian pupils. Her danced around her face, and her lab coat billowed about. She looked like a corrupted angel.

Subject 3 saw nothing but red (and it wasn't the fire or glowing sky) as she dropped the destroyed battloid and flew after the retreating Director. How dare she take the wings of the Flock!

The two blurred through the burning city, a streak of white followed by a streak of black and green. Marian fled North, the Ship having capsized due to an approaching tidal wave the size of a mountain that was probably the result of Subject 3's little PMS episode, that would probably douse everything below.

Huh? Was that rain?

Janssen grunted as S-3 slammed into her from behind, and the two spiraled down to the forest below. The chemical that had once bathed the girl had worn off now, so the threat of the Inferno coming after them was nullified.

The two impacted the ground hard, digging through the dirt for several feet before coming to a stop. Subject 3 was up first, and grabbed the white wings of Janssen, placed her foot on the woman's spine, and pulled with all of her might.

The wings came out with a snap and a splat.

To her credit, Marian only winced at the feeling of her wings being ripped off. The woman's leg snapped out like a horses and caught Subject 3 in the stomach, making her stumble back slightly, which gave Marian enough time to flip to her feet. The wounds on her back closing up instantly.

The girl threw the severed wings at the Director, who batted them aside with a grunt of annoyance, but their purpose was served. Subject 3's tailed lashed out, and severed Marian's legs off at the knee. The woman yelped as she fell to the ground. She tried reaching for her limbs so she could reattach them, because she couldn't regenerate limbs, but black hands adorned with claws slammed down on them, and picked them up.

The energy that made her wings vanished, and her tubes retracted to their normal length. She stared down at the frozen form of the Director, and relished in the fear that flashed through those blue orbs when the girl squeezed the limbs in her hands tightly…before they exploded into blood and crushed bones.

Janssen gulped at the situation she now found herself in. Wingless, legless, and she couldn't fight very with stumps for legs. Her daughter gripped her (Marian's) hair and began to lift her up. The once proud Director swung with her right, while she used her left to pry off the offending claws. Her punch was intercepted, and then her entire right arm was removed with a snap, while her left was severed at the elbow.

Blood dripped slowly from to places where her limbs once were, and Marian Janssen felt fear when she looked into her daughter's poisonous green eyes. There was a chilling murder in those orbs that wasn't possible for human eyes to produce. In spite of the situation, Marian laughed, "You think this is it? Do you really believe that killing me will be the end of your problems? There are Schools all over the world just like the one you destroyed. You might have set us back few years with your cute little tantrum back there, but we'll recover; we've doing this kind of stuff for decades. It wouldn't the first time-mmph!"

Subject 3 crashed her lips against the Director's. Her hand snaked down under the woman's skirt, and began to kneed the soft flesh of her ass. The girl's other hand wrapped around Marian's back, holding her in place while also pressing the Director's D-cups against her (S-3)'s smaller, yet far-firmer A-cups.

Initially surprised, Janssen began to melt into the kiss. Her daughter forced her tongue into her mouth, roaming the slick appendage around inside the Director's mouth. It tasted like blackberries. Her panties began to grow wet at the skill of the smaller female's hands on her ass, and the tongue that was completely dominating her mouth.

The Director gasped into the kiss as she felt a pointed finger move the string of her thong aside, before that finger effortlessly slid into her anus. This was _amazing_! If she had known her daughter was this skilled at kissing, she would've forced her to make out more often. In all of the sex and kissing the Director had done in her century of life, both lesbian and straight, no one had approached the amount of pleasure she was feeling right now.

The delicious tongue rolling around inside her mouth. Her boobs being pressed tightly, and slightly rubbed against, Subject 3's smaller bust. The finger that was slowly moving in and out of her asshole. The situation itself was enough to make Marian cream herself: being dominated like this by another girl who was so many years her junior.

It was _so good!_

Marina cracked her eyes open to see what her daughter's face looked like, and panicked filled her once more. Subject 3's slitted, green eyes were still very wide open, and nothing was in them. No joy, no pleasure, no anger, no despair, no pride, no triumph, no higher intelligence. _Nothing._

It was like looking into the eyes of an animal.

Within the hybrid, muscles contracted and organs began to function. Acid began to flow up the esophagus, before encountering the muscle at the back of the throat. The muscle lifted, and the green liquid flowed into the demigoddess' mouth. The tongue absorbed the acid, and transferred it through the organ to the _other_ side…before releasing it.

The daughter of Poseidon dropped the Director, a small stream of acid trailing down her chin.

The woman writhed on the ground in absolute agony. She couldn't scream, because her vocal cords had been destroyed. Molecular acid raced through her body, melting everything it touched. Marian's regeneration was useless against the raging acid inside of her body. While the inside was being broken down to nothing, the outside of the Director's body turned a nasty shade of black, and, for lack of a better word, began to decompose.

Skin began to collapse in on itself because everything that held it up was destroyed. Clothes steamed as they melted after coming into contact with the acid-ridden skin. After several agonizing minutes of her brain registering the pain of everything in the body being melted, Marian Janssen's body collapsed into a pile of steaming and quickly disappearing compost in the vague shape of a human torso with head.

Seconds later, not even that remained.

Subject 3 just stared at that spot for a long time, vaguely aware that she couldn't the roaring of flames, vaguely aware of the softly falling rain, and vaguely aware of the moon breaking through the clouds. She stunned, numb, shocked, and lost. It was over now, everything was. The School had been destroyed, the Flock was dead, and the Director had been destroyed. The girl didn't care about the other Schools; there was nothing there that was of any concern to her.

She had no more reason to live. She wasn't even sure she wanted to live in this world, this man-made hell. Pollution, starvation, obesity, war, corruption, money; it was all stuff she wanted no part of. Besides, how could she live? She was a monster, a being that killed for no other reason than that it was necessary or fun.

She didn't need to eat, or sleep, or breath. Everything that made something human…she didn't have that. Everything that made something an animal…she didn't have that either. She was an alien. But more importantly…she was without purpose.

She pulled her combi stick from her back, and positioned it under her chin. Her eyes were dull and expressionless. All of the people she killed, all of the lives she destroyed, all of the innocents that had been lost…this was her retribution. Religion wasn't something that was a major concern in her life, but she knew that her soul wasn't going to go where the Flock was.

" _Don't lose hope. If you ever find yourself giving up, find something to fight for. It's what keeps me going."_

A slightly visible smirk graced Percy Jackson's lips as she recalled her own words. 'Don't lose hope,' she had once said. How could you lose what you never had? She didn't 'hope.' She made what she wanted to happen, happen. 'If you ever find yourself giving up,' she had once said. She wasn't giving up; giving up meant you had a goal to reach, and you simple choose not to reach for it anymore. 'Find something to fight for,' she had once said. What would she fight for? Equality? World-peace? The end of starvation? She was a creature of shadows, a master of darkness, a daughter of evil; she didn't do things like that. 'It's what keeps me going,' she had once said. That 'me' was dead, and had been dead for years now.

Green eyes closed as a broad, translucent, fanged smile adorned the face of Poseidon's daughter. It wasn't a lucky shot, some experiment, a firing squad, battle, natural disaster, execution, or any event that would do in the Princess of Death…it was her own hand. Irony at its finest.

She gripped her combi stick tightly. It would be quick, and painless. The Hunter's weapons had proved to be able to pierce her exoskeleton, and this one would be no different. She idly wondered if anyone would find her body, and what the authorities would do with it. Not like it would be her problem anymore.

' _5…Max_

 _4…Fang_

 _3…Iggy_

 _2…Nudge_

 _1…Gazzy_

 _0…Angel, here I come.'_

Then everything exploded into white.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Olympus_

 _Apollo's Palace_

 _December 23, 2004_

When the synapses fired, Subject 3 wondered if this is what heaven was like. But, that wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be in a good place; for all that she had done, she should've been clawing her way out of a fiery pit in the bowels of hell, not laying in a very comfortable bed.

She couldn't sense anything. No pheromones, no vibrations, no electric fields, no scents, no heartbeats, no breathing. There was nothing around her. Cracking an eye open just enough to see out of it, the demigoddess saw a muscular man with tan skin, windswept black hair, eyes the same color of the sea—just a shade or two away from her own eyes—dressed in Bermuda shorts, a Hawai'ian shirt, fisherman's sandals, and a trident was gripped tightly in his left hand.

There was a level of concern in the man's eyes, that the girl had only seen in that of a parent.

He couldn't be…

"I see you're awake," the man said slowly, like he was unsure of anything else to say. In any other circumstance, Subject 3 would've bolted out of this bed, cut this man down where he stood, and made a mad dash for the exit, before finding wherever she was, and if the people present where friend or foe.

But right now, she was tired, confused, her gut hurt, and she wanted to know if she was dead or not. And where were her weapons?

The girl slowly sat up, taking note of the blue, backless nightie she was wearing-bleh-the feeling of her tail wrapped around her body-strange-what felt like underwear pressing against her nether regions-uncomfortable-and the hospital-ish room she was in.

She stared at the sea-smelling man with piercing eyes, causing him to fidget. She tried to read his mind, but there seemed to be something blocking her telepathy, and she didn't want to give all of her cards away either.

"Um…you're not dead, thank Chaos—and shame on you for trying such an _idiotic_ thing, young lady!" An eyebrow-less eyebrow raised; who was this guy, exactly? The man seemed the realize what he said and began to fidget some more, trying to come up with something to say. Subject 3 waited patiently for him to speak. Clearly, he was nervous about being in her presence, like an old relative that hadn't seen her in years, and had no idea how to start a conversation.

The man stopped fidgeting and closed his eyes as he collected his thought. He took a few deep breaths, before he smiled faintly. His eyes opened back up, and they were filled with so much warmth and happiness at seeing her, that Subject 3 was tempted to run for the hills.

"I'm so happy you're alright…my daughter."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **The Director is dead! The world is in a panic! If there's anyone that lives in California, I'm sorry for torching your state!**_

 _ **This is where the Maximum Ride stuff ends. There will be no Flyboys, no Dylan, no Maya, no mutants, no dumbass meteor, no Omega, nothing. Maximum Rides ends here.**_

 _ **Next chapter is going to be more father-daughter fluff than anything, and expect it to be much shorter than this 8k monster.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	16. Aftermath and Bonding

_Aftermath and Bonding_

 _ **And we're back with another episode of the titular**_ _ **Xenomorphic**_ _ **!**_

 _ **Today, we'll be reviewing the total destruction of San Francisco and the surrounding area, exploring the relationship between Poseidon and his in-desperate-need-of-a-hug-and-some-Loco Hot Coco-and-homicidal/suicidal daughter, and have some character development.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ Still don't have the rights to AVP or PJO, but I am emailing Riordan about hammering out a deal to give the rights over to me. More on that later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

" _I'm so happy you're alright…my daughter."_

As soon as those words registered in her ears, Subject 3's world came grinding to an abrupt halt and time itself seemed to freeze as her mind went into overdrive. Same skin color. Identical eye color and shape. Identical hair and style. Familiar aura. An unexplainable, distinct aura of sea, earth, and weather. Possibility of being sperm donator: 78%.

Moving on from science, Subject 3's brain almost collapsed as a flood of hundreds upon hundreds of memories cascaded together in a cacophony of sights, sounds, shapes, smells, and _pain_. Memories of suffering, of lying awake through the night, of crying out to no-one, and of being alone in the dark, buried after years of suppression, exploded to the surface.

Perhaps illogically, Subject 3 did the only thing she could think of.

It was a good thing Poseidon was a god, or the fist with all the power behind it would've made his head explode. Luckily, all it did was send him crashing through the God of Medicine's palace and out onto the streets of Olympus.

Apollo came rushing around the corner of his home, the sounds of destruction bringing him away from his private time. He froze as his scary cousin came stalking out of the hole in the wall of her medical room. She ripped off her nightie (that was put on her by Athena), and then ripped her off plain, cotton panties (also put on her by Athena), and dropped both articles of clothing to the floor without breaking stride.

The Sun God shivered. That girl was _not_ happy, and if there was anything that he had learned from Artemis, angry girls were not safe to be around. Especially ones born form the loins of one of the Big Three.

Poseidon rubbed his jaw, wiping off the _ichor_ that trailed down it. A father was often proud of a daughter that could punch, and he was no different, but _damn that had hurt_. Judging from the sound of approaching footsteps, this beating was not over. That was okay, though. The Sea God had been mad at his father, too, and had gotten his pound of flesh from Kronos.

He deserved this for not being there for his daughter. His Percy…was that her name now? He refused to call her 'Subject 3,' the disgusting mortal name.

Subject 3 stalked out of the rubble of Apollo's palace, a complete emotional wreck. Her body shuddered and her lips trembled. Her teeth were grinding together like gears in a machine. Pools of poisonous green gathered at the base of eye sockets, threatening to spill over.

Both parties ignored the stunned onlookers.

The girl glared at her supposed 'father,' before screaming and blurring in front of, delivering a devastating haymaker to the man's left cheek, causing his entire head to ripple from the force. The instant his daughter's fist connected, Poseidon dissolved both of their bodies into mist, and reassembled them at his hardly-used palace on Olympus.

Then physics kicked back in and the god busted down a wall.

It appeared to be the dining hall. Daughter was upon father once more, delivering jab after bone shattering jab into his gut, torso, and just upper body in general. Even as his godly organs were ruptured, and his bones turned into powder, Poseidon did not defend himself.

Instead, he wrapped his daughter in a hug, _ichor_ spilling from his mouth. She responded by digging her claws into his back, digging deep into his divine flesh, spilling more golden blood. Subject 3 lashed out with her tail, stabbing the man in the back multiple times, painting the floor gold each time she brought her tail back out.

Why wasn't he defending himself!? It didn't make sense! It wasn't logical! It didn't compute! It was idiotic! It was-! It was-! The dam broke and the girl began sobbing into her father's chest.

Poseidon winced each time his child stabbed him, but he wouldn't let her go. He hadn't held her in over eleven years, and he for damn sure wasn't going to let her go now. His Hawai'ian shirt began to steam and hiss as his daughter's tears melted the fabric, but did nothing to his godly skin. She was crying, years of emotional stress culminating in this single moment of realization.

Father held daughter tight to his chest, gently rocking her as she finally let go.

' _How can you love something like me?'_ a distraught female voice echoed in Poseidon's mind. The God looked down at the green-stained face of his beloved child, his heart aching at the lost and fearful look in her beautiful eyes. He separated from her and got on his knee, bringing him down to eye-level. A quick application of divine power, and all of his injuries were healed.

"I can love you because you are my daughter, and nothing can, or ever will, change that."

' _But-! All of those people! All of that land…! How could you love a monster? Everything about me is designed to kill. My tears are acid.'_ She looked down at her feet, her tail falling limp to the floor. In that moment, Poseidon saw not the hardened killer that was Subject 3, he saw a little girl that had been beaten and abused, never knowing what love was, used to being looked upon with fear, hatred, or perverse interest, not love or adoration. The god gripped her shoulders tightly, making her look up at him.

"You are not a _monster_. You are my _daughter_. A parent can never not love their child, regardless of what they do, or become in life," he said sternly. He smiled softly at his baby girl, running a hand through her hair, "You look so much like your mother."

Her lower lip trembled, before she launched herself back into her father's embrace. _'I thought I was grown in a test tube.'_

A sad smile adorned Poseidon's face. He rubbed his daughter's back, in between her dorsal tubes. "No. You were created in your mother's womb, and was birthed like a human."

' _What was her name? Where is she?'_ the girl asked quietly.

Poseidon felt his heart ache at this, but his hesitance to answer was enough to make the girl's spirit sink a little farther. Her mother was dead. "Her name was Sally Jackson, and she was the most wonderful person you could've ever imagined. When she learned she was pregnant with you, she leapt in joy. When you were brought into this world, I had never seen her so happy. She loved you with everything she had, and then some."

' _Even though I was born a boy?'_

A soft chuckle, "Actually, she was hoping for a daughter."

The daughter of Poseidon was quiet as she allowed herself to be held in her father's strong arm. An embarrassing thought crossed her mind as she realized something important. _'Um…what…what's your name?'_

The god looked down at his child, and she looked up at him with uncertain eyes. "Poseidon."

' _Like the Grecian god of the sea?'_

"We have so much to talk about, my child. But first, what's _your_ name?" The immediate answer was 'Subject 3,' but Poseidon cut that off like the middle head on a hydra, "No. I refuse to acknowledge you by that. That is a title given to you by mortals as a designation. I doubt you want to be called your original birth name, Perseus, so, what's your name?"

The girl didn't know how to respond to that. Yes, she didn't want to be named after a son of Zeus, but Subject 3 was something she had always referred to herself for years. Her mind went into overdrive once again, running over every female name she had heard in the past five years. She wanted something Greek, like her father, but every name she ran through seemed…taken. Like an instinct telling her _not_ to call herself by those names.

Then she found one. A name that meant falling star. The girl's life had been forever altered by a creature that had fallen from the stars, so she felt that it was appropriate.

' _Asteria. Asteria Jackson.'_

Poseidon smiled. "It's nice to meet you Asteria Jackson. Now, I think it's time I tell you about our extensive family."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The newly christened Asteria took the bomb of 'the gods are real, and I'm one of them' remarkably well. Honestly, after hearing Jeb's theory so long ago, she always had an inkling in the back of her mind telling her it was true.

Now the father-daughter pair was watching mortal TV in Poseidon's bedroom inside his palace. Asteria was sitting in her father's lap, with the god holding her as close as those infernal dorsal tubes would allow. On Poseidon's insistence, against Asteria's reluctance, the sulking girl was clad in another blue nightdress. They had met in the middle ground, so the girl was going commando.

The Earthshaker asked why she didn't want to where clothes. The answer was that they were restrictive and unnecessary. Poseidon resolved himself to arrange etiquette lesson between his daughter and Aphrodite sometime in the future.

They were tuned into a news channel, which one was irrelevant because every single one was covering what many were calling either the California Fire, the Great Fire, Beginning of the Apocalypse, God's Wrath, the Cleansing of the Corrupt, the Great Sign, and all other matter of hooey-phooey.

Christians, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, and all matter of religious groups were going apeshit over what they believed to be a sign of the Second Coming, the Return of Jesus, Allah coming to save them, and other stuff.

Scientific communities were scratching their heads over trying to come up with a logical explanation over how a wildfire that started in Death Valley burned all the way across the state of California, over the Sierra Nevada, a mountain range, to San Francisco. The seismic readings indicated earthquakes measuring, on average, in the 6 and up ranges. They were carefully monitoring each and every fault line on the western seaboard to make sure an aftershock didn't remove half the state of California. The hurricane that had formed over all three cities was something unseen since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Perhaps it was an act of God, because a massive tidal wave and sudden heavy rains came in and washed out the uncontrollable fire…along with over half the rubble. The death count was estimated to be over two million, from the origin of the fire to the coast. Property damages were estimated to be over a hundred billion, and still rising.

Those less-compassionately inclined saw this as an opportunity to make profits. Politicians especially, most of them on advertisement campaigns. Some even saw this as an event that would help the economy out. Sick bastards, the lot of them.

Massive bits of infrastructure could be found floating in the ocean. Once great towers of mans' perseverance were now charred skeletons of steel and metal that had sunk to the bottom of the waves. It was predicted that coral and sea-life would cover the structures within ten years.

Relief efforts had flooded into the smoking ruins to clean up and search for survivors. Heh, survivors. The only thing those delusional people found were crispy corpses that had been burned beyond recognition. Families out-of-state begged authorities for any news about their missing relatives, only to get none.

' _I caused all of this?'_

Poseidon nodded sadly, "You did."

' _Do you expect me to be sorry about it?'_

"…no."

' _Do you know…about my past?'_

"I do. Some people showed it to me."

' _The Fates?'_

"Yes. When you flew into the air in that plane—"

' _Veritech. And I want that back, along with my gun. And my combi stick.'_

"Sure, I'll get right on fixing your fancy jet and give back your things, when you prove to me you won't try kill yourself again," Poseidon said in a mix of sarcasm and seriousness. Asteria grit her teeth at the reminder of her moment of weakness. Looking back, that was probably the dumbest thing she ever tried to do, but she wasn't exactly in the right state of mind either.

' _You were saying something about flying,'_ came the mental prompt.

"Right. When you flew into Zeus's domain, your uncle created a viewing window that let the Olympians and all of the demigods present for the Winter Solstice Meeting watch everything from the beginning of your dogfight—impressive, the way—to when you _kissed_ that woman. You aren't gay, are you? It's totally fine if you are," Poseidon said in a rush, "don't misunderstand me, though, I love you either way, I just want to, you know… _know_."

Asteria mentally groaned, _'No, Dad, I'm not gay…I think. I'm eleven, I probably have serious mental issues, and sexuality was never something on my list of concerns. I didn't kiss that bitch—'_ "Language!"— _'because I wanted to know what her mouth tasted like.'_ Her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched, her teeth grinded and her lips parted in remembrance of the Director. _'I wanted her to experience pleasure, before I overrode every sense in her body with pain. Overwhelming, agonizing, excruciating, unending…_ _pain_ _.'_

Poseidon suppressed a shiver. Chaos help anyone that was around his baby when she started her period. He wasn't worried about boyfriends…nothing with a penis that walked on two legs would come within five feet of her without turning into algae.

"Well, I think that's enough TV for tonight." Poseidon turned off the machine, and Asteria slipped out of his lap. The god pulled back the covers on his giant-sized bed and crawled in. He held them up, and Asteria hesitated before crawling in, and curled up in a ball at her father's broad chest.

' _I thought gods didn't need sleep.'_

"We don't," Poseidon yawned, "but that doesn't mean that we can't."

' _Every time I sleep, I only dream of_ _dead people.'_

"Well you won't have to worry that tonight, because you're with me."

'… _okay.'_

Father held daughter close to him that night, protecting her from any evil influence. For the first time in her dark life, Asteria felt safe. She didn't worry about assassins coming at night, Erasers or white-coats barging in and tearing her off to some other experiment, or nightmares plaguing her dreams. For the first time in her life, she didn't feel like a ruthless murderer that lived in a kill-or-be-killed world, she felt like the little girl she was supposed to be, safe and sound in the strong, powerful arms of her father.

For the first time in her life…she felt human.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **See? Short, sweet, and fluffy. I hope it was fluffy, anyway. We'll be marching off to CHB next chapter, expect some awkward teenage interactions with a mass murderer that destroyed almost half a state.**_

 _ **As always…Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	17. Off to Camp

_Off to Camp_

 _ **And we're back folks with Xenomorphic! On this episode, we'll be meeting the campers-expect conflict-and having biology class with Athena! Fun times, amiright?**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own either franchise

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Summer of 2005_

Asteria had spent the last few months on Olympus with her father. Zeus had allowed this because the girl was a 'special case.' When was the last time a demigod child of the Big Three had been born that had the first instinct to kill whatever pissed her off? Oh right, World War 2. Hitler son of Pluto and Stalin son of Hades. Yeah, the Olympians were trying to avoid something like _that_ ever happening again, although one could've argued that it was too late.

However, Asteria had shown a lot of progress in her 'therapy lessons' with the other gods. Except for Ares and Dionysus. All that happened with them was a fist-fight that typically ended with a destroyed building or two, or an attempt to get drunk…which never worked.

Hephaestus and his cousin had been working together on repairing the Veritech, a machine that had the Forge God highly impressed. Hermes had shown Asteria around his oversized delivery warehouse, and introduced her to Martha and George, the snakes on his Caduceus. Demeter had introduced her niece to the _wonders_ of agriculture and practically force-fed Asteria cereal; something that only filled her acid sacs. Athena had acted as the teacher one would expect, but her lessons were pointless to one who had telepathy and had spent years among some of the brightest (twisted) minds on the planet; honestly, young Asteria could've gotten PhDs in almost every subject known to man. Apollo, under pain of castration by rusty spoon, had only introduced 'Aster,' his pet name for his cousin, to the greatest eras of music in history: the 60s and the 80s, with some stuff from other decades thrown in here and there; the daughter of Poseidon found that she enjoyed bands like ACDC the most.

Asteria's time spent with Artemis was the one she most enjoyed; the goddess could fight, run, climb, hunt, and was generally a fun person to be around…excluding the extreme anti-male sentiment. Aphrodite valiantly tried to get Asteria to wear something to protect her dignity, but the girl was a nudist by definition, which resulted in heated, almost sister-like arguments over trying to put on a simple pair of panties; the tail kept getting in the way which raised the question over how Athena managed to do it. The Goddess of Wisdom refused to give an answer. Although, the two had come to an agreement of sorts: learn to manipulate the Mist, and create fake clothes.

Interactions with Hera were unwelcome by both, the goddess not caring about her niece, and Asteria returning the sentiment. The time spent with Zeus was short and sweet: the Sky God allowed Asteria to fly whenever she wanted to; those energy-wings had to be good for something. Hestia was the sweetest goddess to with, both for her cookies—which Asteria developed a sweet tooth for, despite not needing to eat—and her devotion to her family, something that was beginning to rub off on young Aster. The time spent with Hades was best left unsaid, but it involved familiar faces and a lot of screaming.

But now that Zeus felt that Asteria was of enough mental stability to not commit mass murder, he decreed it was time to send her to Camp Half-Blood so she could build friendships, interact with people, and train to be a hero…

…right, hero. Totally. Nothing at all was going to go wrong with that idea.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Bottom of Half-Blood Hill_

 _7:00 P.M._

Poseidon and Asteria stood at the bottom of a large hill, a gigantic pine tree at the top of it. The girl asked her father what the story of that was, and the answer was that there was no story. It was just an enchanted pine tree made to keep monsters out. Aster remarked that it was anticlimactic. Poseidon just shrugged.

"Are you nervous?"

The Princess of Death looked at her father. She was using the Mist to alter her appearance, making it appear that she was wearing jean-shorts that came down to her mid-thigh, and a t-shirt that was a faded mix of sea-green and white. Her tendril-ish hair now looked like a silken curtain of raven that almost seemed to shine in the right light. On her feet was a simple pair of brown sandals. Her usual pitch-black exoskeleton now took on a healthy shade of Caucasian, not quite Hispanic, but more than white. Her eyes had also been hidden by the Mist; no longer did she have sclera the color of deep space, or the pupils of a dragon, now her eyes looked like a regular set optical organs, even if her irises were a poisonous green. Her tail, dorsal tubes, and claws had all been covered in a layer Mist so thick that even Poseidon couldn't see them without having to consciously try.

"I was raised in a facility where I was treated as a science experiment and forced to kill something every day. I fought, and beat, three of the deadliest alien species in the universe, along with a Xenomorph Queen. I singlehandedly destroyed previously-mentioned facility, and then went on to dogfight with several U.S. military F-17 Tomcats, which was followed by the destruction of three major California cities. Yeah," Asteria sighed, "I'm a little nervous."

Over the past few months, while her vocal cords weren't capable of speech, she had found a method to make it _appear_ that she was talking by mixing in a combination of lip-synching and precise telepathy. The effect was the movement of lips, and the listener's brain being fooled into hearing words.

Poseidon smiled, "Don't be. You'll do just fine here. Chiron is a fantastic teacher and friend, and the campers, while they admittedly have some problem children, are nice and accepting kids."

"Even if the one they're accepting roasted several miles of land and killed hundreds of thousands of people? Do they even know who or what I am?"

Poseidon sighed. "They know that you are my daughter and are very powerful. However, they do not know about your past or upbringing like I and the other Olympians do."

"Helpful. Now they have no logical explanation as to why I went genocidal, and I don't feel like explaining it to them."

The Sea God chuckled at the irritation in his daughter's voice. "You don't have to tell them anything you don't want to. Yes, you're supposed to be friends with them, but that doesn't mean they have any business knowing what your life was like. But enough of this negativity," Poseidon finished as pointed his palm at Asteria.

The girl glowed for a moment, before she felt something attach itself to her right leg, and something else appear in her left hand. The glow faded, and Asteria actually _grinned—_ Hades felt the temperature of the Underworld suddenly drop—when she realized that she was back in possession of her combi stick and Desert Eagle. She placed her spear back on her dorsal tubes, making it disappear due to her hair and the Mist, and hid her pistol as well.

She rammed into Poseidon, hugging him tightly. The god wheezed for a moment, before returning the embrace just as tightly. They separated after a few moments, and the father got on his knee and kissed his daughter on the forehead, his eyes shining with love. "I think you've more than earned these back. Now go, and remember that you're _my_ daughter."

Poseidon disappeared, leaving the smell of the sea in his wake.

Asteria stood there for a moment, a small smile on her face as she reflected over the past few months. She had changed, that was for sure. She smiled more often, found things to be more humorous than what she previously did, wasn't tighter than a government vault, and knew about the alien concept that was called 'fun.'

She wasn't worried about the campers alienating her, or rejecting her, slandering her, or fearing her. She had spent the last eleven years brushing off those kinds of things. In all honesty, the only _real_ thing to worry about was someone not letting sleeping dogs lie, and pressing the wrong buttons on Asteria's emotional mainframe.

With a sigh, the daughter of Poseidon climbed the hill, entered the camp, and headed for the Big House, a wooden, sky-blue, two-story farmhouse with an attic upstairs, and a basement downstairs. Currently, the campers and significant others were at the amphitheater to the north. She would wait at the administrative building for Chiron and Dionysus, before going to Cabin 3.

It was the courteous thing to do.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dionysus groaned audibly, but the thunderous singing of the hundred or so demigods drowned it out.

"Is everything alright, Mr. D?" Chiron, in his wheelchair, asked. The Wine God covered his eyes with his hand, and actually sounded like he was sobbing, "No, old friend, everything is _not_ alright. Poseidon's brat just crossed the border." He stood up abruptly, which drew the attention of the singing campers, which halted the singing and the music, which made the emotionally-fueled fire start to dim.

"Oh, don't mind me. I just realized that I forgot to feed my leopard."

Confused looks were cast around the amphitheater. Since when did Mr. D have a leopard? The God exited the theater, grumbling about stupid brats and fault lines. Before anything else could happen, Chiron broke in, and got the singalong started again, before he himself quietly disappeared to the Big House. No one noticed him leave, except for the overly-inquisitive Annabeth Chase and the suspicious Luke Castellan.

From across the fire, the two old friends shared a look, nodded, and then snuck out as well. They both had experience in sneaking and not getting caught, so no-one noticed as they left either, not even the people they were sitting next to.

What had the camp directors so spooked?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, on Olympus_

Poseidon flashed onto his throne, smiling broadly. That smile was wiped off his face however, when he saw drachmas were being exchanged between some of his nephews, while his nieces and sisters shook their heads. "My understanding of this situation is that…you're all betting on something."

Apollo and Hermes had the decency to look sheepish, Ares just smirked, and Hephaestus couldn't care less about being caught. "We're placing bets on who's kids will make Aster blow up first," the Sun God said. "So far, I've got 50 drachmas on Ares' kids. Hermes has 100 on mine, Ares is betting 1000 on his own children—" "My kids'll be lookin' for a fight." — "and Hephaestus is betting a million on Athena's kids."

"Which is absolutely absurd. My children would never be so unwise as to pry into another's past."

"You underestimate their own inquisitive nature, dear sister," the Forge God rumbled. "Especially the Chase girl. I've watched her interact with my own children; her hubris knows no bounds."

Athena grit her teeth. She had no refute for that.

Poseidon hummed, "Define 'blow up.' There's a difference between breaking someone's bones, and crushing their skull."

"We were aiming for the skull-crushing route."

"Then my money's on Owl Head's kids. Damn brats don't know when to back the hell off." Athena's face turned red as steam shot out of her ears. She opened her mouth to unleash a can of verbal whoopass, but Zeus slammed his bolt into the floor, silencing any more bickering among his family. He did have a jovial smirk on face though.

"If you're all done, I believe you have a report for us Athena, regarding a specific biological anomaly in Asteria's physiology?" The King of Olympus ignored the sarcastically clapping Poseidon who was congratulating him (Zeus) on his stellar use of 'big words.'

Athena took a deep breath to gather her thoughts and cool her jets, so to speak. She stood up from her throne and made her way to the center of the Throne Room, greeting her aunt who was tending the fire. A simple wave of her hand, and a projector screen materialized for all to see. The ambient lights dimmed, and a stream of light emerged from somewhere behind Zeus, lighting up the screen with an image of Asteria, her legs together and her arms held straight out with her tail curving behind her in an 'S' like fashion.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, Asteria's skin functions more like an exoskeleton, able to handle extreme punishment, as when she shrugged off multiple plasma burns. However, she is not invulnerable. Something sharp enough, like the Yautja's weapons, are able to pierce her armor, but even then, the point is mute do her regeneration. When her body detects an opening, the surrounding cells multiply at a rate only seen in science fiction, healing any damage she might sustain.

"Further on her exoskeleton is the material that it is made of. Her skin is made of protein polysaccharides, which is found most commonly in the cell walls of fungi and the shells of crustaceans, and her surface cells are made of polarized silicon, which is able to handle _extreme_ environments. However, this also presents a weakness. Sudden change in temperatures, like going from hot to cold very fast, will cause her cells to explode."

Poseidon looked horrified at the thought, and many other gods and goddesses had looks of concern.

"So if she takes a warm shower," Ares said slowly, "and then takes a cold swim, she's going to blow up?"

"Technically speaking, yes. But something like that wouldn't do any damage at all. Replace that warm shower with a dip in an active volcano and that cold swim with a dip in liquid nitrogen, then we'll have cause for major concern," Athena summed up.

"So there's really no need worry then, is there?" Poseidon asked hopefully.

"Not really, no. But don't push this to the back of your mind. It's a very real, very present danger. Moving on," Athena snapped her fingers, and the image of Asteria was replaced by an image of her internal organs, but something was very wrong with her insides. They were all glowing green. "Asteria's lungs, liver, pancreas, stomach, kidneys, intestines, and bladder have all been converted into acid sacs. Yet her heart and reproductive organs remain intact, which means that she still pumps blood throughout her body, and will most likely undergo menstruation in the future." A collective shiver travelled around the throne room at the thought of _that_ inevitable nightmare. Thalia Grace was bad enough on her period, now they were about to deal with a daughter of the Sea, who was moody enough as it was, on steroids.

"But wait," Apollo spoke up. "If her stomach and intestines are both filled with nothing but acid…does she have to poop?"

Artemis groaned, Poseidon sighed, Zeus rubbed his temples, Hera's eye twitched, Hephaestus was tinkering with something but his lips were upturned ever so slightly, Hermes hid his giggles behind his hand, Demeter made a comment about plowing and how it creates proper discipline, Ares snorted, Aphrodite looked aghast at the thought of a pretty young girl doing something so 'revolting,' and Athena deadpanned, "No, Apollo, she does not have to poop."

"But I've seen her eat before. If she doesn't poop, where does it all go?" he sounded remarkably fascinated by his cousin's lack of digestive processes.

"It probably gets dissolved in the acid sac that it is her stomach, and then any excess acid most likely gets transferred to other sacs that are either running low, or are not filled to capacity."

"Then what happens if she had too much acid in her body? Does she have to poop it out, or pee it out?"

"She _spits_ it out," Athena ground out, clearly becoming frustrated with her brother.

"But how do you know she spits it out?"

" _Because,"_ Artemis interjected. "I told her, because I've seen Asteria do it many times when we've sparred. She only eats when she has to refill her acid stores."

"If we're done discussing my daughter's lack of a digestive system, I believe you were talking about Asteria's heart?"

"Thank you Uncle," Athena said relieved. "Despite having acid in place of regular blood, Asteria still pumps it throughout her body. Why exactly that happens is unknown, because blood is used to transfer oxygen and nutrients, both of which are impossible for Asteria to have due to the fact that she no longer has lungs, and any nutrients in her body would be dissolved to the point of total destruction before they could go anywhere of any significance."

"So what exactly does her body run on, if not food or water?" Zeus asked.

For once in her life, Athena didn't have an answer.

"This all _fascinating_ stuff," Aphrodite said after a moment of silence, "but is there anything else to this presentation, besides a biology lesson?"

Athena nodded, "There is one more thing I have to cover, before I can wrap this all up." The projector screen changed once more, this time showing what looked to be cell structures.

"Human cells, depending on where they are in the body, can last from anywhere to a few days, to their entire lifespan. Stomach cells last about two days, platelets typically last for 10 days, skin cells up to for four days, red blood cells can last usually for up to four months, and bone cells can last for decades.

"As cells die out, and the pituitary gland, the gland that controls growth, stops secreting its hormone, human bodies begin to show signs of aging, and grow old and wrinkled because the body becomes 'worn out,' in a sense. That will not be the case for Asteria. Like I said just moments ago about human cells dying in just a matter of weeks, Asteria still has cells in her body from _years_ ago. In a simpler sense, her cells are aging slower than any human on the planet. It is a distinct possibility that during puberty, she will either age rapidly, growing to about her late teens in just a matter of months, or her aging could slow down considerably, leaving her at the appearance of a preteen for years while she slowly matures.

"In conclusion, with her ultra-dense, ultra-flexible exoskeleton, her regenerative powers, her lack of need for sustenance, and her body's slow rate of aging…Poseidon, your daughter is biologically immortal."

It was silent for a moment before Aphrodite squealed in delight, "She's going to be cute forever!"

Poseidon didn't mind at all that his baby girl might stay little forever. Good, that meant less boys he would have to blast into seawater for trying to look at his daughter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria sat on the couch inside of the Big House's living room, calmly waiting for Dionysus to get his fat ass over here, and Chiron to trot, or whatever a centaur was supposed to do in terms of movement.

Ahhh. Here they come now, their footsteps sending vibrations through the ground that Asteria detected with her feet. And what's this? Apparently, there some stragglers sneaking up to here as well. While she couldn't read a god's mind, demigods were apparently no problem.

A boy and a girl. The boy was Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, and the girl was Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Both ran away from home, met up on the run with Zeus's daughter, Thalia, became a ragtag little family of orphans, and eventually made their way to Camp Half-Blood via Grover Underwood the satyr.

…

Now that was interesting. Luke had dreamt of her (Asteria) multiple times in the past, and had felt intense anger and emotion when the gods couldn't find her while she was in the School. When the demigods had watched her rampage across California, Luke had felt very happy for Asteria, and had actually encouraged her to do what she did.

However, it seemed that he kept most details of his dreams to himself, which resulted in Annabeth forming an irrational hatred for Asteria, because she (Annabeth) felt that she (Asteria) was an obstacle between her and her crush that was Luke. Glorious, this was going to be like talking to an infatuated puppy.

The door opened and Dionysus trudged in, followed by a pale Chiron.

"So, Barnacle Beard thought that you had developed enough social skills not to kill someone for breathing wrong, did he? And now he's gone and dumped you in my lap," the Wine God groaned. "Whatever. Just try to refrain from killing anyone without justifiable cause. I've got enough problems on my hands without having to explain to one of my siblings why their kid is dead and headless." Dionysus got up and left before anything could be said.

Asteria rolled her eyes at her cousin's negative disposition. The God of Wine hated heroes with a passion, because of how they constantly used others for the benefit of themselves. This hatred stemmed from how Theseus used Ariadne (who was now Dionysus' immortal wife), and how countless other heroes did the same with other people. It also explained why the god only had two children, twins by the name of Pollux and Castor…that was a nightmare waiting to happen.

"Miss Jackson, it's a relief to see well and unharmed," Chiron said, with a twinge of nervousness. "I trust you'll be taking residence in Cabin 3, then? Or would you like to be introduced to the campers right now? Or did you want to wait for breakfast in the morning?"

The daughter of Poseidon sighed at the well-hidden panic on the centaur's face. "Please, call me Asteria. Yes, Cabin 3 is mine. And no, they're all in the middle of singing and getting ready for curfew, I don't want to cause a restless panic, nor do I want to deal with a shit-ton of questions this late in the evening."

Chiron balked at the girl's language.

"Oh, and do lighten up. I'm not going to murder someone just because they piss me off…I'll just maim, or seriously injure them."

The ancient teacher quietly laughed at the attempt at humor. "If that is all then, Asteria," Chiron cleared his throat and schooled his features, looking every part the old and powerful man he was supposed to be. "On behalf of Camp Half-Blood, I welcome thee. Curfew is at nine, and bedtime is determined by your cabin counselor. Wakeup is at whenever, but breakfast and cabin inspections are at 8:00 A.M. Inspections are done by the head counselor, but don't expect me to let you slack off in keeping your cabin clean. A camp schedule will be made and given to at a later date. And a few words of warning: do not go into the woods unless armed or with a companion, for they are stocked with monsters; if you intend to cause mischief, do not get caught, for the punishments will be harsh; and finally, feel free to ignore curfew, but we the staff are not responsible for the Harpies picking the meat off of your mangled corpse.

"Oh, would you look at the time. It's already 8:31. Most campers will be in their cabins at this point, but there's probably a few stragglers here and there." Ah. So he also noticed the two spies crouching outside the window. "I suggest that this the perfect time to retire for the evening."

Asteria nodded and made her way over to the door, taking note of how Luke and Annabeth began to scramble away, but Chiron called out to her before she left, "I know that it isn't my place to ask, but…what happened six months ago to cause you to feel so much anger and sadness?"

Asteria was silent as she weighed the pros and cons of opening up to the centaur, or lying to him. The two demigods were listening closely, and Chiron was no fool. He would be able to spot a lie a mile away. She didn't want to use telepathy against such an ancient mind, but she wasn't ready to have such a talk with the man…not yet.

Looking over her shoulder, her visible eye dull and void of any emotion, she said in a dead voice, "Revenge."

She opened the door and walked out onto the deck, drinking in the warm night air, the sounds of crickets and locusts echoing from around the grasses and trees, the soft breeze that blew past, and the setting sun as it smiled upon the earth for the last time in ten-ish hours.

Asteria looked at the spot were Annabeth was hiding using her invisible hat, and then up at where Luke was hiding on the roof. She didn't say anything to them, her actions speaking louder than words. Asteria suddenly blurred forward, a silently streaking across the camp grounds at 147 mph with all the sound of a mouse. She stopped at the door to her cabin, looking back up at the Big House, and her eyes easily saw Luke and Annabeth sneaking back to their cabins, discussing the things that they had heard.

When the daughter of Poseidon read Luke's mind, she had seen many things. Good things, bad things, things that made her angry, and things that made her sad. But most interestingly enough, was the dreams the son of Hermes had been having…about a being known as the Crooked One.

Asteria opened the door to her cabin (was it ironic that her codename and cabin number were the same?), and felt her eyes twitch at what she saw. While everything wasn't bright pink and decorated with lace and silk, it definitely had a 'daddy's girl' vibe to it.

The ceiling fluctuated like it was made of water, its surface being the current color of the ocean at this time. The walls and floors were a beautiful swirl of deep-sea-black and the neon mixes of blues, purples, and greens found on abalone shells. On the right wall was a king sized bed with a headboard that was a literal giant clam shell. The bed itself wasn't rectangular, but was, in fact, shaped more like a half-oval. The bed cover was of a simple design of solid, ocean blue, with a mass of pillows at the top in the same colors.

On the left side of the bed was a night stand that looked to be made from solid pearl, its surface smooth and creamy in color, with an open space that had two drawers beneath it. On top of the stand was an alarm clock made out of coral with the numbers on it being created by a soft, internal light. On the other side of the bed was a tall lamp, the shade being in the design of a clam.

Directly across from the giant bed was a massive flat-screen TV that rested in the middle of a large stand that went around the bottom, the sides, and the top of the TV itself, with multiple gaming systems and movie players occupying the bottom shelves, video games, CDs, DVDs, and VHSs lining the side shelves, and boxes upon boxes of .50 caliber pistol rounds lining the top, along with cleaning and maintenance supplies for a Desert Eagle.

On the wall directly across from the entrance was an ornate fountain made of beautiful coral built into the wall. Three fish made of gold spat water into the pool beneath it. In the water, hundreds of golden drachmas glistened in the crystal clear liquid at the bottom of the pool. A personal Iris Message device.

With the fountain being in the middle, and the bed being on the right, in between the two places were walls, most likely the bathroom and shower behind them. The daughter Poseidon thankfully noticed the lack of a dresser of vanity mirror.

When Asteria had said that her cabin gave off a 'daddy's girl' vibe, she meant the unique relationship between her and her father, not the prissy, pampered, princess kind of way. If anyone looked into here, they would've assumed that Gothic Ariel had taken up residence.

Asteria smiled softly and closed the door behind her. Poseidon was spoiling her, that was for sure, because she didn't need to sleep, per se, and especially not in a bed that could fit upwards of five people in it. Oh well, the girl found that she actually like the excess attention.

Allowing the Mist around her to fade away, returning her to her normal, imposing appearance, Asteria unclipped her Desert Eagle and grabbed her combi stick, putting them both on the nightstand, before she pulled back the bed cover, revealing the darker blue sheets, and threw the pillows she didn't want to her admittedly pretty floor.

She climbed into her bed, completely nude as always, thought about just how open her cabin was, the fact that this would be the first night in months that she wasn't being held in the arms of Poseidon, and that tomorrow was going to be the start of a new chapter in her life.

It was going to be a _blast_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Alright, I lied. Sort of. We're in Camp Half-Blood, but we didn't meet the campers. I**_ _ **promise**_ _ **that'll be next chapter.**_

 _ **A more humorous and info-dumpy chapter, but I feel that we need to cool down about after the amount of action we just went through, before throwing things into high-gear again with canon.**_

 _ **As always my loyal fans, Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	18. Meeting the Extended Family

_Meeting the Extended Family_

 _ **Just a few more reviews and we'll hit 200 hundred. Hopefully with this chapter we'll get to the next milestone. In this chapter, Asteria will be introduced to the campers, there**_ _ **will**_ _ **be more conflict this chapter, and we also get to see a demigod, who shall not be named as this point, trigger the anger of our young (anti) hero.**_

 _ **I read a review regarding CTF. It made me laugh.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own either thing

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria's green eyes snapped open, her pupils dilating to paper-thin slits as the coral clock read 7:30, before they returned to normal size. That had been a remarkably peaceful night. Crawling out of her bed, Aster arched her back, a series of pops echoing throughout her empty cabin.

She sat on the edge of her curved bed, contemplating how to introduce herself to the half-bloods. Dramatic entrance, or just walk in and sit down at her table? Meh, despite evidence to the contrary, Asteria really tried to be subtle. Stealth and patience was part of her being; the blood of the Xenomorph flowed within her, after all.

Asteria got up and quickly put her sheets and pillows back together, changed her skin color to its becoming-usual tan, and bent the Mist around her to form what she looked like yesterday, only this time with the gods-awful orange t-shirt. She grabbed her combi stick and put where it usually went, on top of her dorsal tubes and hidden by her mid-back length hair.

She debated on whether or not to grab her gun. Would she really need such a powerful firearm in a camp full preteen/teenage children of the Olympian gods? Well, when the children of Hermes undoubtedly got curious and tried to sneak in, the last thing Asteria needed was for those thieves to steal _her_ trophy.

She strapped the holster to her leg, and hid it with Mist.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a little past eight when Asteria decided to make her way to the dining pavilion. No one noticed her because of her 'attire,' and they were all focused on chatting with each other. Even when she sat down at the third table, her back to everyone and her face to the ocean, she still didn't attract too much attention, but some people here and there took notice of the new girl sitting at one of the off-limits tables.

Asteria looked at her magical goblet, thinking about anything she wanted to drink. Nothing came to mind, but she did accept the plate of pancakes brought to her by a nervous wood nymph. It seemed the magical beings knew who she was, but the campers did not.

Chiron, in full centaur form now, walked up to the front, silencing all conversation and gathering all attention. "Good morning, campers! I would like to congratulate all of you on surviving another night at Camp Half-Blood, and now I give the floor to Mr. D so he can give us some words of encourage for today's trials."

The Wine God took a swig of his Diet Coke, belched with enough force to cause a small tremor, and said in a mighty voice, "If someone dies, please hide the body where no-one will find it, and/or where animals will eat it. Now, go throw food into the fire."

Apparently that was a galvanizing thing, because a resounding cheer went up alongside clapping. Chiron began to call cabins up one-by-one from Cabin 12 to Cabin 4, before dropped the bomb, "Cabin 3!"

Predictable muttering broke out as Asteria shrugged and walked over to the oversized brazier, dumping her entire plate into the fire. _'To every divine entity on Olympus.'_ She sat back down at her table, well aware that over a hundred pair of eye balls were following her every move.

"Oh right," Dionysus said. "Let us welcome the newest headache to our extended family, Arissa Johnson."

"Asteria Jackson," Chiron mumbled, but loud enough that everyone heard.

"Whatever."

The girl in question looked over her shoulder. Every expression imaginable was being thrown at her like party favors. Anger, fear, awe, neutral, doubt, impressed, unimpressed, creeped out, and even lust was in there, from both genders. A glowing green trident appeared over Asteria's head, dashing any qualms over who her godly parent was.

"Are you all just going to keep staring at me…or does anyone have anything they want to say?"

Sure enough, two people stood up. Annabeth, and the daughter of Ares, Clarisse La Rue. The War God spoke highly of this one. The two girls glared at each other, locked in a battle of stare downs. Both of them were extremely stubborn, neither willing to back down.

Getting bored of watching the two look into each other's eyes, Asteria did a little mind play, and made the smaller girl back down, making Clarisse smirk at her 'victory.' Annabeth looked extremely confused.

"So you're Lord Poseidon's little princess?" Clarisse asked snarkily. Chiron looked ready to jump in front of the girl war-child and beg forgiveness on her behalf.

"So you're the one with the least amount of brains around here?" Asteria could play this game better than anyone here, except for maybe Dionysus.

Clarisse's eyes flashed with anger, "Why don't you put your mouth where your money is, _princess_ , and fight me in the arena. So what if you can do all that fancy flying and destroy a bunch of buildings, doesn't mean you can actually fight."

Asteria nodded, "Definitely the least amount of brains here. Can't even get an expression right; sure, I'll fight you, but don't cry to your daddy when I beat you."

Clarisse snarled in a very bull-like fashion, " _You_ don't go crying to your daddy when I spank your little butt in front of everyone here."

"Please," Asteria said, before her voice turned dark. "I've fought things that would give you nightmares for weeks, girl. Don't fool yourself into thinking you're anywhere near my level. If you want me to destroy you so badly, then so be it. The arena, in thirty minutes. I hope you aren't late."

Before Clarisse could come up with a retort, Asteria left the pavilion.

Everyone was silent as the daughter of war seethed in anger, before Mr. D said, "Dammit Clarisse. Now I have to make a conscious effort in keeping you alive."

La Rue scoffed, "Oh come on, Mr. D. I know she might be powerful, but she hasn't had any training with any weapon in this camp."

The Wine God examined his can of coke, "In the six months between now and when she blew up California, and inadvertently helped the country's economy, she's been on Olympus with the other gods, where we've been trying to re-stable her damaged mind."

"Damaged how?" Annabeth asked.

Purple eyes looked into grey, "Damaged as in her first instinct is to kill whatever she deems as a threat, or whatever irritates her. In six months, we've managed to tone it down to 'ruthlessly slaughter enemies, and seriously maim complete idiots.'" He looked at the pale Clarisse, "Guess which category you fall into, Clarissa."

The daughter of war found herself too startled to try and correct the Wine God's mispronunciation of her name. Surely he was just messing with her, right? There was no way an eleven-year-old would be so screwed up, right?

Right?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Minutes later, campers began to stream into the stands of the arena. Asteria sat cross-legged in the middle of tightly compacted dirt floor. Clarisse was elsewhere, her cabin mates helping her get geared up properly for the fight that she issued.

Bets were being placed, gossip was being traded, and jeers were being thrown.

Cheers went up as Clarisse strolled into the arena, equipped with circular shield, red-plumed helmet, breast plate, battle skirt, bracers, greaves, and a spear whose tip crackled with red electricity. A gift from Ares; not like it was going to help.

"What's the matter, Princess? Don't know how to put on your big girl armor without daddy helping you?"

"What's the matter, Clarisse? Think you're going to need so much protection against someone who can't even fight? Although I do think the helmet is necessary; it protects our eyes from seeing your ugly face."

Dionysus spat out his Coke, and a chorus of 'Ohhhh!' rang out from the crowd.

Chiron was about to go over rules and such, but Clarisse gave a war-cry and charged shield-first with her spear resting over the rim. Asteria was in front of her before she could blink, and the daughter of Poseidon kicked the war-child in the shield with enough force to not only dent the celestial bronze, but send Clarisse skidding back across the dirt.

Impressively undeterred, the girl popped back up and threw of the dented the shield. She would have someone from Cabin 9 hammer it back out later. Clarisse stood up and regarded her neutral-faced opponent, both hands on her spear now.

She circled Asteria, the green-eyed girl watching her every movement with the passion of a drowsy old person. Charging and screaming didn't seem to work, so Clarisse tried a different tactic. She walked toward her opponent and tried sweeping at her legs.

Asteria leapt back, and Clarisse pressed the attack with her crackling spear. She jabbed repeatedly, but the shorter demigoddess easily leaned and twisted out of each strike's trajectory. Clarisse screamed in frustration, bringing her spear back and swinging in a full 360-degree arc…only for a fist to get buried in her gut with enough power to send the daughter of war sailing through the air, blood and spittle flying from her mouth.

Clarisse impacted hard, the wind leaving her body, causing her to heave and gasp as her diaphragm refused to properly contract. She eventually got oxygen back in her body, and rolled into a standing position with spear in hand, the tip just inches away from Asteria's budding boobs.

"You want to see something scary?" the Sea Princess asked darkly. In a move that terrified Clarisse and all that were watching, Asteria _grabbed_ the spear tip…and nothing happened to her.

"H-How…how a-are you—" Clarisse spluttered.

"Not being electrocuted?" Asteria finished for the stunned war-child. "Easy. I'm using the water in my hand to keep your spear's electrical charge at bay, therefore nullifying its stunning effect, rendering your spear as just that, a spear."

Bullshit. Her exoskeleton was charge proof; she learned that when the Director decided it would be a good idea to pump 1,000,000 volts into her (Asteria's) body, to no effect. But the campers didn't have to know that.

Without a second thought, Asteria snapped the spear like a twig, the electrical aftershock knocking Clarisse back, but the hybrid's empty hand snapped out and grabbed the spear shaft, jerked it backwards with Clarisse still attached, slid her hand up to grip the war-child's throat, the sudden shift in kinetic energies having a clotheslining effect on Clarisse, then Aster viciously slammed the bigger girl into the ground with enough force to crack it. She reversed her grip on the spear point in her other hand, making the blade point at Clarisse's eyeball, the she stabbed down…right next to the war-child's face.

Asteria stood up, and offered the stunned girl a helping hand. Clarisse blinked, before she gipped it and almost had it ripped out of her socket. "Sorry about that last part. I got carried away in the moment. A few years ago I would've stabbed you through the skull without a second thought, though. You need to work more on strategizing than brute force. Maybe in a few years you'll actually make me try," Asteria said with a challenging smirk.

Clarisse felt her jaw drop, "You weren't even trying?" She didn't know whether to be insulted or depressed. She prided herself on being one of the strongest warriors here, so for a punk kid to just completely demolish her was a serious blow to her pride.

"I mean no offense, but I've killed people a lot stronger than you are, most of them several times my size."

Clarisse just stared at her, "What kind of world did you live in where you had to kill people?"

Asteria's eyes darkened as memories of the School began to resurface. Years of torture, experiments, screaming and death played through her mind. The war-child grew a little concerned for her apparent frenemy when she didn't respond after a few moments, so she gently shook her, "You alright?"

The hybrid shook her head, "Yeah. I'm fine."

Clarisse could tell that the other girl was not, in fact, fine. Call it an instinct derived from her lineage as the child of the War God, but La Rue could tell that Asteria just had a sort-of PTSD flashback. Just what was her life like before she came to Camp Half-Blood?

"Winner! Asteria!" Chiron called out, and the crowd went nuts over the newbie's victory. They jumped over the railing and ran over to the two girls, probably to hoist the shorter one up on their shoulders or something, but the daughter of Poseidon was having none of that.

She shifted her foot slightly, and a tremor shook the arena floor, causing the approaching mob to fall on their butts/faces. Asteria then crouched slightly, and jumped all the way over the arena's wall to the grass below. The camper that were watching all dropped their jaws in shock.

"What just happened," growled Annabeth Chase.

"I think I brought up some bad memories," Clarisse said quietly. Right then, the daughter of Ares resolved herself to find out more about the mysterious girl's past.

"Alright everyone, that's enough shenanigans for this hour," Mr. D said loudly. "It's currently 8:42, so I want you all to disperse and go to wherever it is you go at this hour. And scram quickly, or I'll turn you into a dolphin." Suffice to say, the demigods ran full-speed out of the arena, except for the ones that had sword practice right now.

"And Chiron, please go find our wayward wild child."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ancient centaur found Asteria sitting in the shallows of the ocean, the small waves washing over her.

"I was going to kill her, you know? I got lost in the battle and barely caught myself before I stabbed her through the brain," Asteria said without turning around to face the centaur. "I read the others' minds. They all either think I'm going to kill them all, I'm going to be destroyed by the gods, I should be punished for what I did in California, or they should give me a chance. Is it wrong that I feel nothing for the millions of lives I took?"

Chiron knelt down in the surf, next to his newest student, "No, it is not wrong. I've trained many heroes, many _soldiers_ , in my lifetime. All of them had to harden their hearts for they were brought up in war. They also lacked the compassion for the lives that they took."

"You're saying I'm a soldier." It wasn't a question

Chiron nodded, "Of a sort. How you were raised is unknown to me, but I can see in your eyes a great amount of experience, strength, and pain. So much pain that you've buried it deep inside, and keep it covered with a mask of intimidation."

Green eyes slid over to Chiron, making the centaur gulp, "Stunning observation, Dr. Phil. Any more psychological metaphors you wish to share with the audience?"

The half-man, half-horse chuckled, the previous tension now gone. "I'm merely pointing out what I see, child. I do not mean to poke fun or pry."

Asteria sighed, "Perhaps I'm being too mistrustful. You aren't an enemy, nor do I think you're dumb enough to use any of my past life against me, but even so; old habits die hard." She stood up and put a finger to Chiron's temple, and the old centaur gasped as memories flooded into his mind. Asteria removed her finger, and Chiron held his head as he sorted out the things he had just seen.

"That's not everything, but that's all that you need to know about my life to understand me."

Chiron nodded, sadness and anger glistening in his eyes. "Thousands of years have I trained heroes and watched mortals, and never have I been so disgusted with the human race."

Asteria shrugged. "You're lucky. All I've seen is how bad they can be, and I don't care to see the cliché _goodness_ that they have inside of them," she said, her tone quiet, and absolute.

Chiron said nothing. In all of his centuries of experience, not once did he ever have a case like this before. Such hatred for humanity…there was nothing in his verbal arsenal that could possibly dissuade young Asteria from her misanthropy.

"Wait," he said. Asteria stopped and turned her head. Chiron held up a piece of papyrus. "This is your schedule for the rest of your time here. I expect you to be on time for every class, and to give your instructors the same respect you would give your father. Capture the Flag is on Friday, from 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. I'll let you pick your team, but I won't tell what cabins are on which teams," he said with a small smile.

Asteria grabbed the brown paper, skimming it over. "Don't expect me to be there for any class I don't want to go to."

Chiron smiled in a way only a teacher could smile, "Just be there for some classes, alright?"

Asteria said nothing, and just walked to her next class: Ancient Greek with Annabeth.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The class was held in the amphitheater, the campers sitting in one section, with Annabeth down in the middle using a chalkboard. The board was adorned with the Greek alphabet, and a number of sentences written in English. It appeared that today's lesson was converting English into Greek. Since Cabin 3 held only one person, most of Asteria's 'classes' were joint ones, this one being held in conjunction with Cabin 7, the Apollo cabin.

Since everyone was busy doing an assignment over the subject material, only Annabeth noticed Asteria as she silently walked in.

"What to do you think _you're_ doing here?" Chase demanded. Asteria took a seat, blatantly ignoring the question due to its asker's tone. Now a bunch of blonde-haired, blue-eyed kids were staring back and forth between the mounting confrontation with typical teenage interest. Annabeth's ire rose at the lack response, and opened her mouth to demand something else-

"I have a class here, smart one. Or did you not get the memo?"

Grey eyes glared with all the intensity of a rumbling glacier, "There is no memo, because you aren't supposed to here. You're supposed to be out terrorizing another city, killing thousands of innocent people."

Jaws dropped at the low-blow that was delivered by the resident know-it-all, and green eyes flashed with anger for a moment, before a deceptively calm mask washed its way over Asteria's face. Time to go to work.

"Is that all that you can come up with, brat? I know why you don't like me, and it's the most pathetic reason anyone could have come up with. You think I'm a threat to the puppy love crush you have on Castellan, and you think that he'll choose me over you for some ungodsly reason. That's so asinine I can't begin to describe it," Asteria revealed as she walked down the steps, finishing her monologue right in Annabeth's face.

The girl's eyes widened marginally at having her best kept secret spoken aloud to the entirety of the Apollo cabin. With their power of truth, there was no was Annabeth could try to deny the accusation, so she didn't bother. Instead, she loaded up with a different clip of ammo, but her verbal gun got jammed when Asteria suddenly _spoke in her mind._

' _Don't even think about it brat. Everything you can come up with, I can return ten-fold. There is nothing about you that I don't know. If you doubt me, then here is a sample of the leverage I have over you: when you were five, you wore your younger half-siblings' diapers to bed because you didn't want your father finding out about your bedwetting problem.'_

Annabeth's jaw unhinged as her face paled at having one of her most embarrassing secrets found out so easily, and her cheeks turned red in anger at having _those_ memories brought back up to the surface after so many years of trying to bury them. She was prideful, dammit! Granted, wearing her younger siblings' Huggies wasn't much better, but having her father and stupid step-mother find out she was wetting the bed was the worse of the two options.

Then another thought occurred: how the Hades did Asteria know any of that!? How the Hades did she even have telepathy!? WHAT ELSE DID SHE KNOW!?

Annabeth's mind became irrational with panic. She reared her fist back, and slammed it forward with every ounce of muscle and power she had, aiming right for Asteria's face. The angle in which her fist traveled, the effect it would've had would be that the cartilage in the nose would be jacked up into the hybrid's brain, killing her instantly.

Unfortunately for the daughter of Athena, Asteria's entire body was covered in cells that offered more protection than the latest military tank-armors, and her bones were more durable than steel beams, and couldn't be melted by jet fuel…

The resulting effect was that Annabeth punched Asteria in the face with enough force to break her own hand, and make the daughter of Poseidon smirk ever-so-slightly.

All according to plan.

Annabeth clutched her quickly-swelling-and-reddening hand, the Apollo campers scrambling down to make sure everything was alright, while Asteria began to walk away. Now, in regular situations concerning a brawl, both parties would now be dreading the principle or someone dolling out punishments, but this was _far_ from a regular situation.

A) there was no-one in this camp short of Dionysus that could force her to do anything, and even then, the Wine God would actually have to be in the mood to enforce anything. B) this was a place in which fighting was expected, and frequently talked about. And C) Annabeth wouldn't be dumb enough to bring this to any staff member for a variety of reasons.

Foremost being that she struck first, and that probably no-one would believe her when she told them that Asteria had telepathy of all things, and as it stood, there was a distinct possibility that the Apollo campers would be telling everyone what had just happened as they saw it, and their knowledge was limited to that Asteria said Annabeth was crushing hard on Luke Castellan, and then Annabeth punched Asteria in the face.

Things did not look to be in Wisdom's daughter's favor.

Asteria calmly ascended the steps of the amphitheater, ignoring the children of Apollo as they attended to Annabeth. The girl was going to be nuisance, if only because she would now be using every opportunity to bring her (Asteria) down. Perhaps the daughter of Poseidon was a bit too brutal in getting Annabeth to screw herself over, but hey.

Win some, lose some.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a little after 10:30, which meant it was time for lunch preparation, which meant that tables would be set, cloths would be spread out, magic goblets would be cleaned, and food would be grilled/cooked/roasted/prepared in general, which meant that Asteria would not be there. What was the point in helping to get something ready that she would have no part in?

Her acid sacs were full, and she didn't actually have to eat food in order to refill them. She could swallow a baseball, and when it would melt inside her, it become like ice in water, increasing in volume.

So what to do with these next 30 minutes until she had archery with Chiron?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria occupied her time in the archery range by expertly spinning her pistol around her fingers in a way that would've had professional showmen asking for lessons. The range itself was just a wide open area with your typical ringed-targets on propped up on easels at varying ranges, like a golf range.

Asteria had decided not to mess with any bows until the class began, but she could tell that this would be easy. Her eyes functioned in ways superior to that of birds of prey. If you didn't believe her, would you like to for her to draw you the wing pattern of the fly on the target at 500 yards?

Eventually, Chiron and the Aphrodite cabin, who had bows and loaded quivers slung over their shoulders, entered the archery range, to find the Mist-clad girl lounging on the small set of bleachers that served as an audience-seating area.

Mutterings and whispers broke out among the superiorly-photogenic children of the Love Goddess, but Asteria heard everything.

"She broke Annabeth's hand with her face."

"She got Annabeth tell everyone about her crush on Luke."

"I heard Annabeth peed her pants when it happened."

"No stupid, that's just a rumor."

"I think she's really cute."

Everyone turned to look at the girl who had spoken, Drew Tanaka. Drew was a young woman of Asian descent, and was clearly her mother's daughter. Pink lipstick, light pink eye-shadow, pink nails, a pink thong as well, from Asteria saw in Drew's memories. Her black hair fell down past her shoulders, and was tied in a ponytail at Chiron's insistence. Drew was clad in her own version of the CHB uniform, with shorter than average jean-shorts, and an orange shirt that exposed her midriff and left shoulder.

"How exactly do you mean that I'm 'cute'?" Asteria asked with narrowed eyes. Drew didn't seem to be gay, not even her mind offered any solid evidence, but Aster had been around Aphrodite enough times to know that her children had no boundaries when it came to what they loved.

And not all of them loved pleasures of the flesh.

Cue shiver as you let your mind roam over the possibilities.

Drew grinned and winked, "I mean that you're cute, as in that adorable childish way."

"Right then," Chiron coughed. "I believe that this archery class and not the gossip committee."

Archery went along as you would expect. The Aphrodite kids lined up in front of their preferred targets (50 yards away), and just unloaded their bows. Chiron made rounds, correcting stances and offering advice. Asteria didn't have a bow yet, so Drew let the younger girl use her own.

Chiron, having experience with children of Poseidon and their comical, yet lethal, inaccuracy, had everyone duck behind the bleachers in order to provide some modicum of protection. Imagine the old centaur's face when Asteria began nailing targets with pin-point accuracy, regardless of distance. Even the target at 500 hundred yards was easy to bullseye.

Chiron almost leapt for joy at having a child of Poseidon that wasn't a safety hazard with a bow.

They should've seen her with the Desert Eagle.

Asteria gave Drew her bow back at the end of the lesson, and the daughter of Aphrodite patted the hybrid on the head, much to her annoyance, and Tanaka's amusement. One thing was for sure though, the older girl was taking on a doting-big-sister-ish role when it came to Asteria.

Silena Beauregard, the head of Cabin 10, would support the growing relationship with everything she had. A perk of being the most powerful (known) daughter of the Love Goddess was textbook empathy. Asteria hid them well, but there was a storm of emotions thundering inside of her waiting to be unleashed.

The mysterious daughter of Poseidon would need every light in her life that was available.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lunch came after archery, so Asteria wasn't there for that. Instead, she spent the next hour in her cabin watching a movie about scientists that were dumb enough to bring back carnivorous dinosaurs, without a proper contingency plan. Seriously, how hard would it have been to put a microchip or something inside of the brain to instantly kill the dinosaur if it got out of control?

Regardless of the numerous better ways to handle the situation, Asteria noticed that it was 1:47. Seventeen minutes past her next activity for the day. The eleven-year-old flopped down on her bed, her invisible dorsal tubes propping her up in comfortable way. Did she really want to go to the forges to learn how to make a weapon that would weigh the equivalent of a toothpick compared to her strength?

No…but she did wonder if bullets made of celestial bronze had any effect.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria walked into the forges, the activity being led by Charles Beckendorf, head councilor of the Hephaestus cabin, with all the stealth of a hunting lioness. She walked right up to young, muscular, black man, and tapped his shoulder.

Beckendorf yelped and dropped the device he was tinkering on back on the bench, but the sound of roaring flames and clanging metal drowned his sound surprise. He turned around, and raised a brow at the person who had interrupted him. "My schedule said you were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago."

"Sorry. I was trying to find a reason to attend, and I found it in the form of this," Asteria reached into her 'pocket,' and pulled out the last thing the son of Hephaestus ever expected to see: a nickel-plated Desert Eagle .50 caliber with a black pearl grip. "Can you make bullets out of celestial bronze?"

Charles blinked, "Uh…yeah, if we had the molds for them."

Asteria honestly didn't know why she was here. Reading the minds of the people in here yielded the information that they did not, in fact, have bullet molds. Wait, there was a reason. "If you had the molds, would you make them?"

Beckendorf suddenly grinned, "No. If we had the molds, you'd have to make them."

The girl was undeterred. "Get me the molds, and I'll do it."

"Alright then. Any reason you want bronze bullets for a gun?"

Asteria stared at him. "Science experiment. I want to know if celestial bronze bullets will work the same as blades." Without another word, she turned around at began to walk out of the forges, but Beckendorf stopped her.

"If you don't mind my asking, but…where did you get that?"

Asteria paused, before she looked at the teen from over her right shoulder. Beckendorf felt worry and concern bloom in his heart at the cloud of dark emotions in that poisonous green eye.

"It's a reminder of things that I shouldn't have lost."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Now with her day emotionally ruined because even after eight months of therapy she still had trouble with keeping her rage down, Asteria spent the rest of the day, and a massive portion of the night, tearing up the forest and everything she came across. Chiron was right in saying that this place was stocked with monsters, the only problem was only a few hits and they turned into a bunch of fucking fairy dust.

It was annoying as hell trying to take out your anger on a corpse, only to have it become a pile of golden sand.

Apparently, her emotions were spiking even more than she had realized, because the bright sunny day quickly became clouded with black, and the ground shook ever so slightly.

She had taken some deep breaths, causing steam to erupt from her nose and mouth, quickly calming down. The sky had cleared out and the ground stopped shaking, but the campers had been whipped into a nervous frenzy, based on what Aster had sensed.

Perhaps the most positive thing that had happened today was the discovery of an underground network of caves, that was occupied by extremely large, black ants. Oh yeah, Asteria whipped up some genocide and went to town on those motherfuckers with the combi stick.

The ants were called myrmekes, were the size of German Shepherds, and had thick, black armor, acid spraying capabilities, and the ability to communicate among each other using a hive mind. Not entirely unlike Asteria. Unfortunately for the giant ants, they were hostile, and their opponent was not in a merciful mood.

The end result? Enough golden dust to swim through, and a new hiding spot filled with golden artifacts, weapons, and jewelry; things that would become useful in the future when they were needed.

Instead of taking an active part in just about anything for the rest of the weak, Asteria only briefly showed up at certain things so everyone knew she was still alive. Aster learned that Clarisse wanted to know more about her, Annabeth was trying to save face but was snapping at every little thing that remotely ticked her off, earning the intense ire of just about _every single camper_ there. The complaints made by them to their cabin counselors was enough for the heads to start filing reports and summaries to Chiron and Dionysus. Aster also learned that Drew was genuine in the affection she had shown on Monday, and was concerned for the younger girl, as was Silena Beauregard. Charles Beckendorf was also concerned about the daughter of Poseidon, his feelings stemming from what she had said to him in regards to her gun, and the sad look in her eye.

Now, however, it was Friday evening. Time for some CTF.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Blue Team, consisting of Athena, Apollo, Hermes, and Asteria (to screw with Annabeth), and the Red Team, consisting of Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hephaestus, were ready for battle. The armor was equipped, the swords were sharpened, and the plans were set. All that was needed was the signal from Chiron.

BRRRRRONNNNN

There was the conch shell. The two sides sprinted full force at each other, colliding like waves against a cliff, violent and destructive.

Asteria had _allowed_ Annabeth, the Blue Captain, to make the plan, and she had followed. The plan called for, officially, that Aster guard the flag that was placed by the creek, playing to her elemental advantage, while the rest of the cabins created controlled chaos. In the confusion, Luke was supposed to steal the flag right from under the Red Team's collective nose, and sprint full-force straight to the boundary like his ass was on fire.

Unofficially, Annabeth had placed Asteria where she did as a diversion for the enemy, in the hopes that the girl that had broken her hand would be humiliated by the large number of enemies that would undoubtedly find their way here, by way of defeat and/or having the flag taken away from her.

The daughter of Poseidon felt her sense of humor slowly start to return. Annabeth thought that she was successfully hiding with her invisible baseball cap, but the hybrid had more sensory abilities than what should've been legal. It was also with those senses, that Aster had a limited omniscience as to this battlefield. It seemed more like something out of a comedy than a war simulation.

Paint bombs, wedgie traps, fart explosives, literal shit grenades (ammo courtesy of a sewer line rigged by the Hephaestus cabin) and the children of Hermes distributing stolen munitions to the rest of the team.

Asteria concentrated for a moment, and located those that were her almost-friends. Clarisse was having a ball, carving through like-minded campers. Beckendorf was doling out order and organizing humorous traps with a giant grin on his face. Silena and Drew were Charm-speaking anyone that would listen, with the older girl keeping Tanaka from making someone do something too silly, like wet/mess themselves.

Hm. Annabeth's exits were ready to be put to good use, maybe with just a little mental suggestion…naw. The girl hadn't pissed Aster off that bad. Yet.

A mental dilemma presented itself to the daughter of Poseidon. It was clear that everyone was too wrapped up in the battle, and Luke couldn't find an opening. Did Asteria just lay back and chill, or did she sprint at 250 miles per hour and be back with the flag in three seconds flat?

Actually, beating up the six Ares campers that stumbled through the brush sounded like a good idea for now.

"Hey guys, look. The only one guarding the flag is Asteria, and they put it just, like, 40 feet from the creek," said one kid. "Let's get her!" All six teens charged straight through the creek. Idiots; now all Aster had to do was think about the water doing anything, and all of them would be out of commission, and that wouldn't have been any fun at all.

So the hybrid let them cross into enemy territory…and then Mommy went to work.

The first boy didn't know what him, but it felt like a fist-sized truck drive into his face at 80 miles an hour. The second reacted fast enough to bring his shield up to block the _feint_ , but had his knee shattered for his trouble. The third and fourth ones, angered by their brothers' defeats, went in for decapitating slashes from two different sides, but Aster jumped high, tilted forward, and slammed their helmets together. Five and six had gone for the flag, with five grabbing it and six acting as guard. The poor boy turned around after his brother got the blue flag, only for his twins to relocate themselves somewhere up in his throat. The fifth and final son of Ares had tunnel vision as he sprinted for the creek, so he was completely blindsided by an invisible force that broke his shoulder and knocked out his wind, before he too was unconscious.

Well, that was remarkably unsatisfying, but it did serve as a good source of relieving stress. Even more so considering the gob smacked expression on Annabeth's invisible face. Let's make it even more shocked then, shall we?

To Annabeth, the object of her ire suddenly vanished in a blur heading in the general direction of the Red team's flag, and then less than four seconds later, the daughter of Poseidon was back _with a red flag._ A conch horn blew in the distance, and Annabeth Chase's anger reached new heights.

Godsdammit! That entire plan was for Luke! For Luke to win so he would hug her and congratulate her for coming up with such a great plan! Now it was all ruined by that-! By that-! By that _fucking bitch!_

Asteria internally groaned when Annabeth suddenly went into a blind fury. Great, now she was going to have to deal with an angry little girl that just had her favorite toy taken away. Oh well, it wasn't like Chase could ever actually do any damage, and there was just _so much_ Aster could use against the blonde.

"You freaking imbecilic bitch! What the Hades were you thinking!? I ordered you to stay here and guard the flag! Not run off like some crack-addict and come back with enemy's flag! What the Hades was that, anyway!? What kind of freak can just disappear and reappear, unless you're from a _Marvel_ comic!? Do you have any idea what you've just done, _cunt!?_ Because of your retarded, fucking, down syndrome smelling ass, all of my plans have been shot straight to Hades!

"What's wrong with you anyway!? What kind of freak just goes and kills people for no reason!? What kind of _monster_ slaughters innocents for fun!? I bet the only reason your daddy even bothered to claim you, was so that Zeus wouldn't put you down like the fucking _animal_ that you are! I bet that you even killed your own _mother_ , because you thought it would get Poseidon's attention! _I bet that you even killed your own family just because you thought it would be fun, your cunt-sucking, lesbian, FUCK!"_

"Annabeth!"

The blonde whirled around with an unlady-like snarl on her face, heatedly glaring at the horrified look on Luke Castellan's face. That's when Annabeth realized that _everyone_ was now present, standing from the middle of the creek to behind her, all of them openly gaping at what they just undoubtedly heard. In the crowd of shocked, horrified, and disgusted faces, there were ones of abject rage in there as well. Then they all collectively gasped.

HISSSSSSS…

The sound sent shiver racing up and down Annabeth's spine. Primal fear gripped her heart in a vice. It was quiet, far too quiet out here. No one speaking, no one breathing, no birds singing, no crickets chirping, no cicadas buzzing. It like they were in a vacuum. Slowly, with her body shaking more than a leaf, Annabeth turned around…and promptly voided all control of her bowels.

A creature that crawled from Tartarus stood behind Annabeth. It took the form of a young girl, an inch or two taller than the daughter of Athena, with midnight-black skin, long, tendril-like hair, eyes the color of poison with reptilian slits in place of pupils, sclera the color of your room at night after watching a horror movie, four tube-like structures on its back, and a long, spine-like tail that ended with a sharp-looking blade, that twitched around agitatedly.

The creature opened its mouth slowly, as if there was something keeping it closed. Black gums and translucent teeth became visible, along with a profuse amount of saliva. The creature growled like an angry bear, before gripping Annabeth by her small breasts.

Then the screaming girl was hurled clear across the creek, landing hard on her back with an audible oof.

Asteria stalked angrily across the shallow body of water, splashing liquid everywhere. Campers, recognizing the lethal intent that was being displayed, rushed forward in an attempt to stop the rightly-furious daughter of Poseidon. They seemed to forget about the water though, and a flick of the tail created a wave powerful enough to knock them all back.

Annabeth tried to scramble away, the erratic movements of her legs smearing and spreading the mess in her panties all over herself, but when you were facing death in the face, you didn't care about feces; you cared about survival. However, Asteria was having none of this run-away-business. Annabeth rolled over and tried to crawl away, exposing her ass and the brown stain where her anus was, but her leg was grabbed, and then she was impacting a tree…cracking the bark.

Before Annabeth could fall to the ground, Asteria caught the blonde-haired ass-wipe by the throat, and slammed her hard back into the tree, causing it to topple over with a crash.

Aster began to squeeze, causing little 'Annie' to start pissing herself as well. A dark spot grew at her crotch, before spreading to all over the front of her jeans, and then down the insides of her pant-legs. Asteria hissed in disgust.

" _How dare you speak to me of my family,"_ she spoke. Her voice, coming from her throat, sounded raspy and exceedingly forced, like a swarm of dying bees. _"You will pay for your transgressions with your life,_ _and_ _your afterlife. You will never know what peace is, unless I allow it!"_

"Asteria! Stop!" Chiron roared, bow out with an arrow notched. "Let her go, or I'll be forced to take drastic measures." Regrettably, this wouldn't be the first time the centaur would kill one of his students.

Asteria slowly turned to look at her archery teacher, _"You dare defend her? After all, that she_ _said_ _!? She deserves to be punished, and I'm carrying out her sentence…"_

Chiron looked pained, "I have to defend her, for I am her teacher, as much as I am yours. Rest assured, she will be punished for what she said, but death is not fair."

Asteria growled, but it had the volume of a chainsaw with the sound of cracking ice. She stared long and hard at the centaur, before looking back at the now-unconscious Annabeth. The smell of her waste was almost overpowering.

Chiron dropped his weapons so he could catch the flying girl he had taught since she was seven. Asteria walked through the creek, her rage subdued to a look of complete disgruntlement.

' _I expect her to be punished in a way befitting the way she's acted, and what she's done to her pants. Absolutely disgraceful, Athena would be disgusted.'_ The campers all back away from the coldly-furious eleven-year-old as she stormed back to her cabin.

It was silent for a moment, before Silena spoke up, her voice tinged with disgust, "That was the most horrendous thing I've ever witnessed. I've babysat toddlers that can behave better than that." There were nods and mumbles of agreements from many of the campers. Michael Yew, councilor of the Apollo cabin, put his hand on Luke's shoulder, "I don't know what kind of relationship you have with Annabeth, but you need to get it squared out before that girl sets off Asteria even worse than she already has." Luke said nothing, but he did nod with a hard look in his eyes.

"Chiron, how are you going to punish her?"

The centaur sighed, "This fiasco she caused tonight, and all of the complaints that I've received over the past week…I don't even think there's anything out there that can adequately punish Annabeth. The only thing I have to go on is to 'punish her in a way befitting the way she's acted, and what she's done to her pants.' Asteria's words."

It was Drew that came up with a sadistic and humiliating idea, "Punish her for the way she's acted, and what she's done to her pants, huh? Hey, Silena, we have some kiddy clothes back in the cabin, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Do we have the _underwear_ for a toddler that craps and pisses herself?"

Everyone caught on to what Drew was suggesting, and they all laughed. What better way to punish a brat who thinks she's too big for her britches, than by downgrading her wardrobe to the age she's been most-closely relating to?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria threw open her cabin door, and slammed hard enough to crack the walls. She hurled herself onto her bed, and _screeched_ into her pillows as loud as she could manage. The entire structure shook from the soundwaves, despite them being muffled. Perhaps it was from exhaustion, but Asteria had no memory of what happened after she was done venting her rage. Her coral clock read 11:28.

A presence entered the girl's room and whirled around, combi stick fully extended and ready for battle.

An old man, with wispy white hair and beard, with blue eyes, and dressed in a robe that seemed to made from space stood in her room. His aura was not hostile, but sympathetic. "Hello, Asteria. I am Morpheus, God of Dreams. I'm here on behalf of your father—who could not be here himself due to the Ancient Laws—to ask you a question: do you want me to show the demigods your life, so that they understand your pain?"

Aster was silent as she heavily considered the god's offer. Her life was private, horrifying, bloody, and, in all honesty, tragic and heartbreaking. She would be the subject of a pity-party for years to come if that happened, but…it would get all of the half-bloods off of her back, and would answer all of their questions regarding the mysterious daughter of Poseidon.

' _Yes.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Sorry for the later than usual update. It would've been out yesterday, but I spent all of ten hours mowing half of a pasture down in goddamned Salt City, TX. I got home, took a shower, and crashed like an airplane without fuel.**_

 _ **So, else thinks that Asteria has totally toned down on the killing? Raise your hand if you think that Clarisse and Annabeth would be dead already, if little Aster was the same as about ten chapters ago?**_

 _ **Sorry about the Annabeth bashing, but was it too OOC? One could argue, but I think I did good in portraying her over-the-top antagonism. Also, big humiliation next chapter.**_

 _ **As always, Fav, Follow, Review!**_


	19. Prelude to Lightning Thief

_Prelude to Lightning Thief_

 _ **We hit 200 reviews! Give yourselves all a pat on the back for helping me get that far!**_

 _ **This chapter will be more centered on the demigods' reactions to some never before seen footage of the School, followed by Annabeth getting humbled (severely), and Luke will finally accept his master's teachings and become Darth Idiot.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ If I owned AVP, I would do nothing. If I owned PJO, it would be more anime-related, with power ups, super speed/strength, energy levels, landscape-altering attacks, and more godlike-gods

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Unknown Location_

Later in the night, all demigods of CHB, minus the resident wild-child, found themselves suspended in a black void. Of course, none of them could see the other, so they were all under the impression that they were alone and in individual dreams.

" **Greetings, half-blood. I am Morpheus, the God of Dreams. It's come to the attention of the Olympians that your lack of tolerance, and ignorance, regarding Asteria's life is proving to be a hindrance. For those of you less intellectually inclined, that means that you're being mean for no reason. So, with her permission, I have been allowed to show you the daughter of Poseidon's backstory. Tissues and spare clothes have been provided in the instance that you need them for whatever reason. Without further ado, let's get this tragic backstory underway, shall we?"**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Percy's age: 5_

 _Month: January_

 _Location: The School_

A young boy sat alone in a cell-like room. He had tan skin, messy, black hair, and wore only a pair of black compression shorts that were barely long enough to not be considered briefs. Small scars dotted his small body.

The door to his cell opened, letting light stream into the dimly lit room. The boy's eyes opened, and silent gasps rang silently. Those irises were just a shade darker than Asteria's.

"Subject 3, come. It is time for your experiments."

The boy didn't move from he was on the floor, just staring at the man in the white lab coat with a dull gaze. The man stared back, playing the waiting game. His face contorted into one of frustration as he lost, and he stormed into the danger zone.

Subject 3 suddenly bolted upright, startling the man, but nothing happened. The man took a deep breath, and approached the experiment. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a shock-collar looking device, and clamped it around the five-year-old's neck.

Then he did something incredibly stupid: he turned his back on a predator.

Subject 3 kicked out, buckling the man's knee and bringing him down. Then the boy gripped the man's head and used it as leverage as he flipped over the downed white-coat. The he twisted in midair.

The white-coat hit the floor with a thud, his head facing the wrong way. The demigods, hidden to mortal sight, gaped in shock at what they just saw. A little boy, no older than six, just _killed_ a man—and was grinning, too! This couldn't have been Asteria. She might have been really scary and screwed up, but she wouldn't have killed with a smile on her face, for no apparent reason.

Subject 3 walked out into the brightly lit hallway. Multiple shirtless men, armed with assault rifles, and another man with glasses that gave off a slightly paternal feel to him, were standing there waiting for the boy. "That makes 165 people you've killed over a nine-week period. Congratulations," the man said with a smile.

The five-year-old gave a double thumbs-up, "Yay. So what are we doing today, Jeb?"

"Testing your emotional boundaries by putting you in stressful situations regarding other human beings."

"No idea what you just said, but it sounds fun!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject 3 stared in horror at what he was being forced to do.

He was in a plain white operating room, with the white-coats staring down at from behind panes of glass. The only thing in the room was a cute girl, probably 13-or-so-years-old, bound to a metal chair with chains. S-3's orders were to kill the girl. No problem at all, really, except for one teeny-tiny crucial little detail: THIS GIRL WAS LIKE HIS BIG SISTER!

Her name was Subject 9, but she wasn't born in this place. She was captured when she was ten, and brought here to be experimented on with ant-DNA. There was nothing cosmetic about her, because the white-coats had isolated the DNA code that let ants lift things 10x their body weight. Hence the chains.

Because 9 had knowledge of the outside world, and she was a bit of an anime nerd, she referred to herself as Kyuu, and called Subject 3 'Sam.' A play on the Japanese word for three, 'san.'

"Subject 3, kill her."

The boy grunted as the shock-collar activated, pumping him full of volts. Kyuu screamed out, "Stop it! You're hurting him!" The collar deactivated, and S-3 panted lightly. "I won't do it." The collar activated again, on full voltage this time. The boy fell to the floor, writhing and screaming as bolts of electricity covered his small body.

"Sam!" The voltage shut off, and S-3 shakily stood up. Kyuu had tears in her eyes as she begged, "Sam, kill me. You don't have to keep torturing yourself over this."

"But…"

"DON'T ARGUE WITH ME! Please, Sam, just end it already."

The collar activated, but this time it didn't hurt, so much as royally piss off the boy. Wreathed in electricity, the tears on his face turning into steam. He reared his fist back, screaming in anger, pain, and sadness.

Kyuu's eyes closed as she smiled, "Arigatou, otōto."

Then her neck was snapped like a twig.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Percy's age: 9_

 _Month: June_

The demigods watched more and more events, most notable being the introduction of the _other_ experiments, and the gruesome transformation into the terrifying Asteria Jackson, followed closely by the 'Death Matches.' Oh gods, there was a lot of imaginary throw up following those images.

They were also introduced to the insane female known as Marian Janssen. Excellently displayed by the following event.

"Why good morning, baby girl. Wondering why you're hear this morning? Well, I'll tell you. Recently, we've been playing with the scientific clichés and we've come up come with a way to reanimate dead bodies. The pop-culture term would be 'zombies.' Try not to make too much of a mess, would you please? The janitors are starting to demand a raise."

Subject 3 rolled her eyes as the Death Match Arena doors began to open around her, and the Inspiration behind the future Zombies of the CoD: Blops franchise came pouring out by the dozens. Yellow eyes, decaying flesh, missing limbs, and a very bad smell. The girl idly wondered how much carnage she could unleash if she had a minigun on hand right now.

Oh well, there was an even 150 soon-to-be-un-undead things scrambling at her from all sides, moaning, grunting, and groaning in a _highly_ vexatious way that had S-3 reevaluating what the most annoying thing in her life was. Yep, the Director was still at the top.

Without any hesitation, the younger Asteria dove right into fray, ripping apart corpses, tearing up flesh, rending meat from bloody meat. Her tail lashed about wildly, decapitating, eviscerating, and lacerating anything within 95 feet of her…which was just about everything.

In 182 seconds flat, the Arena floor was littered with true corpses, bleeding and stinking up the entire place. Not every body was an adult, either.

"Goddammit, little girl. I thought I told you not to make mess with your finger paints! Now look at yourself, you spilled red all over you. I hope you realize that won't wash out easily. Oh, the lengths a mother will go for her child," the Director lamented with the back of her hand on her forehead.

Subject 3 stomped on a skull to show what she thought of that statement.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The demigods watched more years of killing and of death. It was horrible, the things they watched, the things those _people_ did. The things Asteria was forced to do. It was a testament to how much the girl had changed, if this Aster had fought Clarisse, if Annabeth had insulted this Aster…neither would've been alive. Clarisse because it wasn't in Aster's current nature to _spare_ , and Annabeth was just lucky Chiron was there.

Although, not everything was doom and gloom. The Bird Kids, the Flock, Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel, they were a proverbial light in the proverbial darkness. It was actually heartwarming to know that Asteria had friends in the hell she was living in. But…where were they now?

The answer would come later, but the demigods got to watch, up close and personal, as Asteria went all Neo on a bunch of space men that had fang-filled vaginas for mouths, and some really cool weapons. Oh, and the giant bug/alien thing. That was freaking amaz—holy dog shit, did it just _bite off_ Asteria's arm!?

What happened next made everyone realize that fighting a water-boosted Aster was _not_ a grand idea. That was as brutal as it was epic. Too bad about that alien guy though, he seemed cool. Awesome spear thingy.

The demigods had watched as Asteria and the Flock became close, so they knew that they were supposed to hatch that escape plan right now, but all of them knew all hell broke loose come the Winter Solstice, so what had happened?

…

…oh. Annabeth's words came back to echo inside of the minds of the demigods. _'I bet that you even killed your own family because you thought it would be fun…!'_ The amount of fuck-up right there set a new world-record that would forever be at the top in the Guinness World Records.

The demigods watched, with no small amount of horror, revulsion, and puke as Asteria _made people commit suicide_ , in a way that belonged in something out of Hellraiser. Beckendorf also learned how Asteria got her gun, and now her cryptic words made absolute sense.

' _A reminder of things I shouldn't have lost.'_ That gun was the same one that had taken the lives of the ones she considered her family, and belonged to the man that fired it. A reminder, huh? What a dark way to keep a memory.

The final thing that the camper saw, was Asteria creating a hole in the ground, sending many men to their deaths in a fiery pit, and then killing H.G. Groves in an admittedly satisfying way. The rest was, as they say, history. Only this time they knew _why_ Asteria was in such a rage.

She was avenging her family's deaths, by killing the one who made them suffer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke Castellan's resolve had never been more firm than that what it was now. What he had just witnessed, what he was sure every other demigod had just witnessed, could have been easily avoided… _if the gods had actually done anything!_ This was all of their fault! They could've prevented any of this-all of this from happening if they just paid attention to their children! It was bullshit that couldn't find Asteria, it was bullshit they couldn't find any of their other children, and it was bullshit that they couldn't at least claim the children that did find their way to Camp Half-Blood safely.

Luke's dream went beyond the others', out of Morpheus' control. He often had this dream, probably once every other day, really. In this dream, he stood in a void, empty of anything and everything, aside a single object. A golden sarcophagus with depictions of death and suffering etched into its bright surface.

" **I know what you have dreamt of, Luke,"** a voice like knives on chalkboard said. **"Young Asteria did not deserve a life such as that, nor does any other demigod child."**

"I know, Lord Kronos," Luke knelt by the sarcophagus, and put his hand on it. The glow intensified. "Which is why I have a clear conscience and a light heart when I say this: I swear allegiance to you, mighty Lord of Time. My shield is your shield; my sword, your sword; my mind, your mind; and my life, is your life. I swear on the River Styx to faithfully follow you, and aid you in any that I can, as long as you destroy the Olympians, and make a better world for those that they have ignored."

Thunder rumbled throughout the void, sealing the oath.

The sarcophagus glowed with a pleased light, **"You have made the right decision, Great-grandson. With you at my side, my rise will be quicker than I had anticipated, which will hasten the destruction of my traitorous children, and the rest of the gods. I foresee an opportunity during the Winter Solstice in six months. For now, talk to only those that you think would join us, and plant the seeds that will grow into our future army."**

"Yes, my Lord. What of Asteria? With Thalia in the Hunters, she is the only one that could oppose us."

" **Do not be so sure of that, Luke. Hades spawned two children before the oath was made, and he has kept them hidden for decades. My knowledge extends only to the Lotus Hotel, but the time is not right to retrieve them. We will wait for them to be revealed, before we ask them to join.**

" **Asteria may indeed become a threat, if only because that is what the Fates have decreed long ago. She does not have to be, however. I can sense in her a hidden resentment for the gods. Buried deep within is a small, burning flame of hatred. Despite the relationship she has been developing with them, my granddaughter blames them for her pain, and for not being able to protect the children she refers to as the Flock—oh yes, that is wonderful."**

"What is, Lord Kronos?" Luke asked confused.

" **The Flock are indeed in the Underworld, but they are not in Elysium."**

Luke's eyes widened as he picked up on what Kronos was getting at. Asteria dearly loved those kids, and she believed that their afterlife was one filled with peace and happiness. The amount of betrayal she would feel if she learned that the Flock was in the Asphodel Fields…might be able to turn that small flicker into a large inferno.

" **Do not approach her with this information first. This knowledge will be one of our trump cards. But be warned, Luke. If she does not join us, she will be against us; I trust I don't have to tell you what that means?"**

"No."

" **I can sense your feelings for her, but they are not feelings of love, nor of a sibling relationship. What you feel for her is clouded and hazy; you yourself do not know how you feel about young Asteria, do you, boy?"**

That was the truth. Ever since that first dream so many years ago, Luke didn't know what he thought about the daughter of Poseidon. Sure, she was cute, strong, powerful, and could easily topple a city with a few well-placed vibrations of appropriate magnitude, but Castellan honestly couldn't say for certain if he loved the girl.

Pitied her? Definitely.

Wished she had a better life? Certainly.

Wanted to be her friend? Sure.

Wanted to be her boyfriend? No…well, maybe. Possibly. Not. Fuck if he knew. Ugh, this was confusing.

" **You need to confront her, talk to her, learn about her for her. Gain her trust, and possibly even her affection. If you do this, getting her to join us will be much easier."**

Luke's eyes shown will determination, "I will, Lord Kronos."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria bolted out of her cabin, planted her foot hard, extended her dorsal tubes and activated her wings. Harpies tried to swarm her, but the shockwave from the hybrid's takeoff sent them all slamming into the ground. It was 3 in the morning, but the girl was still too angry to calm down, even with the anger management techniques taught to her by Athena and Artemis.

Asteria roared across the state of New York, streaking out East. She had no destination, other than to just go away. She didn't how her wings worked, but she suspected that they operated more on a magical level, than a scientific level.

For instance, if she wanted to go faster, slower, up, down, left, right, or deactivate them, all she did was think it, and it happened.

Currently, she was rocketing along at 300mph, while a few hundred feet above the summit of Mt. Everest. In other words, 30,000 feet in the air. Oxygen was a nonfactor, as was air friction, and temperature. Asteria didn't breathe, her exoskeletal skin could take forces like plasma and not crack, and could handle the environmental extremes this planet had to offer.

She was just flying. No destination, no point, no goal, just… _soaring_.

Asteria barrel-rolled before diving down for the ground. A cone of air surrounded her a she descended. A combination of extreme speed and gravity's welcoming embrace was almost enough to break the sound barrier, but Aster pulled up at the last possible seconds, and was careening straight into the night sky once more. The thunderous wake of the rapid air-displacement echoed over the land.

Asteria suddenly came up with an idea to try and vent her frustrations towards: breaking the sound barrier on Annabeth's face.

The daughter of Poseidon made a conscious effort to cancel to slight tugging in her gut, and divert all of that power to her energy wings. Asteria could _physically_ feel herself shoot forward, jumping from 300 mph, straight up to _600_ mph. That wasn't the sound barrier, but she was somewhere in Michigan right now.

To give herself some motivation, the Princess of Death (she would have to talk to Thanatos about his creeper habits) conjured up a mental image of Annabeth Chase in front her, and played the Athena-spawn's words over and over again in her head.

Rage turned into fuel as Asteria accelerated more and more, an internal speedometer of sorts telling the child she was at 750mph, and climbing rapidly. Another air-cone began to form around Asteria, and the image of Annabeth steadily began to get closer. The telepath played the hurtful words on 'max volume,' the last line of Owl Shit's monologue echoing loudly within her mind.

'… _killed your own family…!'_

Asteria's screech was only matched by the thundering crack of her accelerating to 780 mph, her fist turning Imaginary!Annabeth into a bloody paste. Gods that was satisfying.

Now with her rage successfully vented, Asteria groaned at the thought of having to fly all the way back to Long Island from…that sign down there read Minnesota…of having to fly all the way back to Long Island from Minnesota.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, on Olympus_

"Pay up," Hephaestus grunted. Ares, Hermes, and Apollo all grudgingly reached into their divine pockets and pulled out the winnings that they owed. Poseidon was fuming, and it was only through the efforts of Zeus, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia that kept the Sea God from turning the one who hurt his baby into a mackerel and serving her to a shark. Athena had buried her face in her hands, wholly embarrassed by the behavior displayed by her favorite daughter, with Artemis soothingly rubbing her sister's back, also disgusted with Chase's behavior. Dionysus was religiously hitting the Advil, and Aphrodite was cackling madly behind a pink hand fan at what her daughter had come up with for punishing Little Annie.

Asteria had somehow managed to worm her way into a bunch of hearts.

After a few minutes, Zeus let out a low whistle, temporarily drawing all attention to himself. The Sky God looked around, "Asteria just broke the sound barrier of Wisconsin's airspace. If my understanding is of this is correct, she was imagining an image of Annabeth as a target to be reached when she accelerated past 768 miles per hour. She succeeded, but it also appears that the image of Annabeth exploded into little chunks of viscera upon reaching Mach 1."

Athena moaned and went back to quietly sobbing.

"Oh, do cheer up, 'thena," said Aphrodite. "Your favorite isn't going to die, but she might wish she had."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean that Chiron ordered for your brat to be punished for her actions, but was at a loss for anything substantial. It was my daughter, Drew, that came with an 'age appropriate' punishment, reflecting the juvenile way Annabeth had acted. Come morning, her entire wardrobe will be replaced with clothes more befitting a three-year-old."

"Entire wardrobe?" Artemis asked. "As in everything from underwear out?"

"Yes. But let's just say that if Little Annie needs to pee in the future, she won't have to worry about her pants getting wet."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The following morning, every demigod, besides Annabeth woke up in synchronization. Bodies were covered in sweat, tears stained faces, and eyes looked haunted. Sharing glances with their cabin mates, it was obvious that everyone just had the same fucked up nightmare.

Dear gods. It was all so surreal that something like that had happened. People were skeptical of course, but that was denial speaking, the refusal to accept the truth. But was that so surprising? That place and everything they had seen was all something out of science fiction, the realm of the impossible. Regardless of the truth or not, everyone had been changed on an emotional level.

Were their lives hard? Yes. But all of them had family they could go to. Mortal parents, their demigod siblings, even Chiron was always willing to lend an ear, but Asteria…she had to be strong and turn her heart into a ball steel dipped into liquid nitrogen.

She wasn't allowed to feel, because feelings were a weakness, and weaknesses meant death in the School. Even the small ray of light that was able penetrate her darkness, was quickly snuffed out.

Maybe it was cliché, but the half-bloods all realized something that morning: they were lucky. Most of them came from loving families with tolerable to down-right awesome step parents, and half-siblings, and those that didn't, those lived on the run, they had a satyr find them and guide them to this safe haven.

Was there danger in CHB? Undoubtedly. They were worked with swords, spears, knives, arrows, fire, explosives, and literal monsters on a daily basis, but there was no real threat. The councilors all kept a vigilant eye on whatever class they were overseeing, and there was a fully functional hospital in the Big House, complete with every mortal appliance and magical remedy since ancient times.

The School however…it was the complete opposite. The personnel would select you for any experiment, and gladly throw you out into a pile if you died. That place was something out of the Holocaust; a place where death had been monopolized. Dying in the School was a very real possibility from over a hundred different causes. Erasers, chemicals, experiments, combat, exhaustion, failure, someone just felt like killing you, the list went on and on.

Oh yes, the children of the gods had been very lucky indeed.

Power has a price, they say. Well, the price for Asteria's immense power had come in the form of intense emotional, physical, and mental anguish. It was a testament to her will that she didn't commit suicide…

But enough of the heavy realization stuff. It was time for the Aphrodite cabin to get to work on Annabeth's punishment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the blonde awoke, she immediately realized that something was very wrong. The first thing she noticed was that her entire cabin was empty. She was always the first one awake, because that's just how her body worked.

The second thing she noticed was that her hair felt wrong, instead of its usual cascading curtain, it was in…pigtails? Annabeth slowly reached up and discovered that her hair was in pigtails. Moving her arms up like she did, the girl noticed the third thing that was wrong was that her shirt was both too small and too childish.

It was white, for one, and had a very large portrait of Cinderella taking up most of the chest, with the Disney character emblazoned on a pink splash of a backdrop, and the word 'princess' designed in blue cursive across the bottom of the picture, and sleeves were also poufy, with the short itself only coming down to about two inches beneath her belly button and easily rode up with every movement she made.

Swinging her legs off the side of her bunk, Annabeth went pale as she registered many different things that were wrong. Her shoes were just fine, it was the bright pink, ruffled skirt that came down to her knees that was the issue, and the fact that her panties felt…strange. They felt thicker, softer, a bit tighter, and more snug.

Annabeth remembered that feeling, and her heart began to hammer in her ears and reached for the waistband of the juvenile skirt she was wearing. She gingerly grabbed the elastic, and pulled it away. She promptly let it snap back in place when she saw that was not, in fact, wearing panties at all.

Technically speaking.

Annabeth bolted to her dresser, ignoring the feeling between her legs, and began riffling through her drawers. All of her clothes had been replaced with those were designed for small children. Pinks, whites, blues, Disney, skirts, dresses. It was something out of nightmare. Annabeth's hands trembled as she grabbed the nobs to her panty drawer, dreading what she would find inside.

Closing her eyes, she ripped open the drawer. Annabeth cracked her eyes open, and almost fainted. Where her solid-color briefs, bikinis, boy-shorts, and hipsters once were, was now a bunch of pink…plastic…princess…pull-ups.

Annabeth was close to hyperventilating as she reached down and picked one up, examining it with shaky hands. Faded-white color, stretchy sides, a picture Belle stylized inside of a heart, and four little flower designs where the urethra was located for girls.

"I see you found your new clothes."

Annabeth yelped and jumped out of her skin, throwing the pull-up into the air while she stumbled and landed on her padded butt, her legs splayed apart, showing off her current underwear.

Standing at the door to the Athena cabin, was Mckayla Brenn. She was 17, about 5'7, had straight blonde hair, grey eyes, a serious, school-teacher like face, and was clad in jeans and the usual orange shirt. She was currently smirking at her younger half-sibling's reaction.

"W-what do y-you mean 'my new w-w-wardrobe'?" Annabeth stuttered, her nerves still shot to Hades.

Mckayla shut the door to the cabin and locked it, so no-one would interrupt would no doubt a lengthy explanation. "Your new wardrobe, as I'm sure you noticed, is very toddler-oriented. Why, you ask? Well, that's your punishment-and before you start blurting questions, let me finish my monologue explanation. Thank you, Baby Sis.

"You're being punished because of A) the atrocious behavior you displayed all of this past week, B) all of the complaints filed by campers and councilors alike, and C) because you _royally_ pissed off one of the most temperamental girls on the planet, who is also the transgender daughter of one of the most powerful gods in existence. Good job.

"As for your punishment itself, well, that's a long story. Starting from last night, after you messed and pissed yourself, Asteria was going to kill you, but Chiron managed to convince the pissed-off 'lesbian fuck' to let you live," Mckayla took a breath, "on the stipulation that you were punished in a way 'befitting the way you've acted, and what you did to your pants.' Chiron was at a complete loss at what to do, but Silena popped off that she had babysat toddlers that behaved better than you, which gave Drew Tanaka _this_ idea. Which is I will now cover in detail.

"All of your underwear has been replaced with pull-ups, and you are not allowed to wear anything but your pull-ups, and going commando on us is strictly prohibited. Someone from the cabin will pick out what clothes you wear, but girls only, so don't worry about that. I picked that outfit out after I _cleaned you up_ , if you know what I mean." Annabeth blushed profusely.

"Before you panic, no, you don't _have_ to use your pull-ups, but you have to let someone know when you have to go potty, and whether or not they take you to the bathroom is up in the air." Annabeth paled. "Also, the Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, they developed a bit of a crush on Asteria, so I highly recommend checking your food, watching your back, and sleeping with one eye open, because they will be looking to prank you in very embarrassing ways.

"The entire camp knows about your clothes, but they've been told by Mr. D to keep their mouths shut about it, so you won't have to worry about people jeering and pointing fingers…for the most part. The reasoning behind all of this, is that since you acted like a bratty child, who had a major accident in her pants, you deserve to be treated like said child. Hence, everything you'll be wearing for the foreseeable future."

"Foreseeable future!?" Annabeth exclaimed in horror. "How long am I supposed to be like this?"

Mckayla grinned, "Now that's the tricky part. You see, when we told Asteria about all of this, we had to break a deal with her to prevent her from blasting your brain and ripping out all memories of your potty training." Annabeth's blood froze at the ramifications if _that_ had happened. "The deal is that you keep the ability to tell when you have to go to the toilet, but it's Asteria that decides when your punishment ends. Which is bad news, really. There's no telling how long she'll keep this going, but I wouldn't be surprised if you started needing bigger-sized pull-ups."

Annabeth's heart stopped beating for a second, before her made went into irrational anger again. "What!? But this isn't fair! So what if I bad-mouthed her, that doesn't warrant being treated like a baby!"

"Actually, you should consider yourself _very_ lucky, Annabeth. If Lord Poseidon had his way, you would've been force-fed ambrosia until you disintegrated, then your soul would've been bound to chum, which would've been to a performing orca, which would then go through the entire digestive system, which would end up in the water, which would be filtered out and cleaned, then placed into a water bottle, then drank by somebody else, then pissed out or sweated out, then your soul would eventually join the water cycle for all eternity, with all of your senses still working due to your soul. Now imagine what that would've felt like, and compare it to the training panties that you're currently wearing."

Annabeth didn't have to think long and hard about that, but still, "What's the point of all of this? Making me wear clothes that I can't pick out, pull-ups, making me ask to go to the bathroom? Am I supposed to learn something?"

Mckayla smiled in a sisterly way, "You're supposed to learn some humility from this, by being excessively humiliated. You acted like a completely spoiled brat in desperate need of a spanking these past few days, Annabeth. This is your comeuppance for the way you behaved.

"There are some bets already going around. Some say you'll get stupid again, and this time Asteria will tear your flesh from your bones. Some say that Asteria will keep you in pull-ups so long, you won't want to wear regular panties again. Some say the stress will be too much and you'll commit suicide. And some say that you'll actually learn from this, and become a better person from it."

"What do you think?" Annabeth asked after a moment.

"I think you'll find a way to get through this, and come out a better person. I don't know about you, but I think being regressed like this would suck balls, and I would do everything I could not to let it happen again. But we're late for breakfast, so come on."

"Wait, I have to go outside? Like this?"

"Wouldn't be much of a punishment if you got to stay in the cabin all day, now would it? Course, if you want to play rebellious little girl, I can always go get Asteria to drag your butt out of here." Annabeth was at her sister's side in a heartbeat.

"I'm fine, now. Let's go."

Mckayla just chuckled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria, the only Mist she was using was to cover up her vagina, walked into the pavilion, and all conversation went quiet. The hybrid scanned the crowd, and smirked faintly at the state of Annabeth, who was valiantly trying not to look up from her lap. Thoughts and faces were 100% as what Aster expected, so she mopped up the sorrow real fast.

' _Get those looks of pity off your damn faces. I didn't allow Morpheus to show you my past because I wanted all of you to look at me like I'm a kicked puppy in a shelter. I let you see because I wanted all of you to understand why I blew up half of California. And also to understand just how outclassed all of you really are,'_ Asteria spoke in the minds of everyone present. She walked over to her table and sat down with her back to everyone.

"Outclassed? We ain't outclassed, bitch. We just aren't as strong as you are yet," Clarisse said out loud with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah," Beckendorf added, "you aren't all that, I still haven't seen you forge something worth functioning as a door stop yet."

Silena took her turn, "Besides, you really need some help with your clothes, honey. The Mist is good for a lot of things, but faking clothes isn't one of them."

"I can't let you keep using my bow, kid, so until I think you're good enough for your own, you'll be stuck with me," Drew smiled conspiratorially.

"Hey! Don't forget about us!" Travis Stoll shouted.

"Yeah! We're the sons of Hermes!" Connor Stoll said.

"We're probably—"

"—a lot better—"

"—than you—"

"—at sneaking around!" the twins finished in tandem.

With her back to them, no one saw the green tears that brimmed in Asteria's eyes. If she was an anime character, she would've fit the roll of tsundere, coming off as cold and hostile, but would gradually show that she had a warmer side. But this isn't an anime; it's fanfiction.

' _You guys are all complete idiots,'_ she thought to everyone. _'But I think that I'm starting to like it here.'_

The crowd burst into cheers, whistles, and thunderous applause. Chiron looked proud, and even Mr. D raised his coke can. Asteria grinned; maybe it wouldn't be so bad here after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **And that's that, another chapter in the book. I threw in some extra stuff with Aster's backstory, but nothing major, I hoped you liked it. I also hope that I portrayed the demigods' reactions in a believable manner as well.**_

 _ **Luke has officially joined Kronos now, and we learned some interesting new things regarding out little antihero.**_

 _ **Speaking of little; Annabeth's punishment. Is it over the top and exceedingly strange? One could argue. Do I care? No. I thought to myself what was the best way to humiliate someone who's young and believes herself above others, the answer came in the form of complete degradation. I did heavily imply this is what was going to happen last chapter though, so don't say I didn't warn you.**_

 _ **Also, now that we're at 19 chapters, do my fans want me to hop back on Leviathan real fast and get it up to speed? Or do y'all want to see some royal ass-fuckery of canon?**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	20. The Lightning Thief Pt 1

_The Lightning Thief Pt. 1_

 _ **Following my more laidback updating schedule, here's the next installment of Xenomorphic…and it's the big one. With this chapter, we are now officially starting canon, so be sure to show me some love, because I'm actually really nervous about this one.**_

 _ **For those of you still not in the know, I'm holding a poll for one of three stories to be put into production. The pole ends on Thursday, and the story with the most votes will be written. Here are the stories:**_

 _Son of Jashin_ _\- Percy Jackson is unusual demigod. Mostly because he is neither Greek, Roman, Norse, or Egyptian. He's Shinto, and when the Titans try forcing him into their service, he goes into hiding, but then he's found by a bunch of kids in orange that turn his entire life into one big pile of shit._

 _Green-Eyed Ghoul_ _\- Sally Jackson is a Ghoul. Poseidon is a god. That makes for one powerful being of half divine entity, and half meat-eater. Zeus' bolt is stolen, and imagine Anteiku's surprise when a bunch of girls in silver come asking for a boy with green eyes…_

 _Roanapur's Sea-Devil_ _\- A drunken Gabe just murdered Sally. An angry Percy just murdered Gabe. On the run, the eight-year-old finds that world is a harsh place, and only the strong can survive, but he never thought that a black man, a computer nerd, and a foul-mouthed woman could be the greatest family ever. (Black Lagoon crossover)_

 _ **Those are the stories. Poll on profile. Go vote. You have until next Thursday. Have fun. Green-Eyed Ghoul is winning.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own either AVP or PJO

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _December 21, 2005_

 _6:00 P.M._

 _Cabin 3 of Camp Half-Blood_

Asteria lowered herself into her massive, personal bathtub, the water at a comfortable temperature for her ultra-heat resistant exoskeleton (anyone that hopped in with her would've been fried). It was the day of the Winter Solstice, and the campers were all getting prepared to go to Olympus and see their parents for the first time in a year.

As she relaxed in the water, Asteria reflected over the past six months.

The first thing that came to mind was Annabeth Chase. Surprisingly, progress had been made. Of course, the first few days had been about as hellish as you could imagine, with the brat acting the way she was dressed, snapping at everything, saying bad things, and just being a nuisance. Still, a few hard swats to her padded-butt and a few bars of soap fixed the problem.

Another blow to Annabeth's draining pride was from a combination of a store's worth of laxatives, and her babysitters waiting to the absolute last moment to take her to the potty. Against all common belief, girls did, in fact, poop, and Asteria was cursing her telepathy whenever she was around a messy Annabeth, because the girl's foremost thoughts were about the uncomfortable squishiness in her pull-up.

Eww. Just…eww.

It almost made Asteria lift the punishment up, if not for the positive effect it was having on Chase's psyche. Her pride was lowering, her demeanor was improving, her attitude was getting better, and she was so much more mellow now. She listened to other's opinions, did what she was told without complaint, and was less prone to argue every minute detail.

But, speaking of psyche, the human mind worked in very mysterious ways. Certain events would be remembered in perfect clarity for a lifetime, some memories would be repressed due to a plethora of reasons, most of them being embarrassment, fear, or extreme shock, and some memories would be discarded due to triviality, like what you had for dinner three weeks ago on a Sunday night.

Annabeth's mind, due her changing personality, and long exposure to regression, was subconsciously making a link between the two phenomena. In other words, young Annabeth's mind was getting _attached_ to her new lifestyle. The campers had made a bet that Annabeth would get addicted to her new underwear, and it was looking like those people were going to cash in.

It wasn't like that was a problem. All it would take was a simple mental nudge and Annabeth would be dying for panties again.

Moving on from the daughter of Athena's mental state, Asteria thought about her friends. Yes, by gods, you read correctly. _Friends_. Of all things, the genocidal daughter of Poseidon had made friends at this boring camp. She and Clarisse had bonded over their regular fights, with the daughter of Ares progressively getting better with each spar (Asteria actually had to _try_ in order to win now). Drew had become a mainstay in the hybrid's life, and filled the position of a big sister Asteria would never admit to finding pleasant. Silena had, to a lesser extent, also become a bit of a sister. Beckendorf had become a sort-of role model for Asteria, and had helped her craft her celestial bronze bullets (that worked smashingly). The Stoll siblings served as comic relief in Asteria's life, the twins always trying to win her heart in as juvenile a way for twelve-year-olds.

It was sweet, but with the _happenings_ going on around camp, Asteria was not in the mood for puppy love.

Several campers' minds had gone dark to Asteria's telepathy, and there was a very short list as to why that was. Considering just who was on the rise, against all denial by Zeus and others, the most plausible theory was that those select campers had gone over to the proverbial Dark Side.

To Kronos.

It seemed that people had forgotten that Asteria had far more sensory abilities than just telepathy. She could _see_ pheromones, and could easily smell the emotions people were feeling. She could sense people's electric fields, so she was aware of every movement within 500 meters of her. There was also her seismic-vibration sensing, so she was doubly aware of every movement with 500 meters of her.

Luke had been busy the past six months.

Castellan was a whirling mix of turmoil to Asteria. He felt self-righteous about what he was doing, but he also hated himself for it as well. He felt that the gods needed to be punished for their negligence, but the mass-murder of mortals was not what he wanted. He wanted Olympus to fall, but he didn't want the Titans to rule. He wanted to approach Asteria, and convince her to join his cause, but he was too nervous and afraid to ask.

Luke's fear was not unfounded.

Even so, from the darkest part of her dark heart, Asteria couldn't bring herself to be mad at the son of Hermes. The man had the courage to do something that few others had the courage to do: forge a path. Luke saw an opportunity to make a change in the world, and he had chosen to walk that path to its end.

In an even darker part of her heart, Asteria _agreed_ with Luke.

Speaking of darkness, October 10th had been a really bad day. Asteria had locked herself in her cabin, and _refused_ to see anyone for days while she mourned for the death of her family. October 10th was a black reminder of the Flock's deaths, and her own failure to act in time. She should've fucked planning things out for months and just broke them out of there against their will.

Eventually, she did come out of her depression, but she did not have an air of friendliness around her for a long time.

A knocking at her door alerted Asteria that someone was at her cabin. A quick check with every sensory technique that she, yielded that it was Drew…who wanted to give Asteria a makeover for the time about to be spent with their divine parents. Formal clothes, proper makeup, done-up hair, you know…girl things that the daughter of Poseidon had no interest in.

Asteria sighed and exited her tub, draining the water and willing herself dry. Perks of hydrokinesis. She opened the door to her cabin with a twitching eye, staring at the smirking face of one Drew Tanaka.

' _What?'_

"Oh don't act like you don't know what I'm here for."

' _There is no way I'm allowing you to put me in a dress.'_

"Fine. I swear on the River Styx that if you don't let me give you a makeover, I'll kill myself." Thunder rumbled.

Asteria paused, processing this new development. _'Okay,'_ she slammed the door in Drew's shocked, and suddenly fearful face.

The daughter of Aphrodite began to frantically bang on Cabin 3's door. "Asteria! This isn't funny! Come on, you can't be serious! I'm going to die if you don't let me give you a makeover! ASTERIA!"

The door was suddenly opened, and Drew fell face-first onto a floor the color of abalone shells. She looked up at the smirking face of the girl she thought of as a little sister, and scowled.

' _Gods, I hate you.'_

"Yeah, well, tough. Now come on, I'm not letting this opportunity to make you presentable slip past me tonight, little brat."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sitting in the Olympian Throne Room, arrayed in neat rows of chairs, the campers of Camp Half-Blood and the Hunters of Artemis listened with tuned-out ears as the gods made speeches, and gave reports about the events of the past year. They wanted to be with their parents, dammit!

Especially Asteria.

Annabeth was shaking like a leaf, for obvious reasons. She was dressed in a hot-pink baby dress, with a lacy, frilly skirt, and a large bow around her waist, her hair in its usual pigtails, and a desperate need to go to the bathroom. Did Olympus even have bathrooms? And the diaper bag that McKayla brought wasn't exactly helping with Annabeth's confidence in facing her mother tonight.

Eventually, Zeus concluded the meeting with a slam of his bolt, and that might as well have been the pistol shot for the beginning of a race. Almost all of the campers thundered over to their parent's thrones, those who were more laidback or 'cool' took their time. Some of the Hunters went to greet their divine parents as well, but most went over to their goddess.

Asteria was a barely comprehensible blur as she rocketed into her father's giant chest at 200 miles per hour. Poseidon and his daughter vanished in a sea mist to parts unknown to the other Olympians.

They reappeared in Poseidon's palace on Olympus, on the balcony that was conveniently placed to overlook the Atlantic Ocean to the East.

"You look beautiful," Poseidon said to his daughter.

Asteria was clad in a blue, backless dress to accommodate her dorsal tubes, with her tail wrapped tightly around her upper body. Drew had managed to get the girl's tendril-like hair to part in the middle, so that Asteria's right side covered her ear and lightly obscured her eye, while the left side was tucked back. The hybrid wasn't wearing any shoes, or makeup, or even underwear for that matter, but Drew was satisfied with what she had accomplished.

Asteria's cheeks turned a faint green, _'Thanks, Dad.'_

The two sat in silence for what was probably hours, but they didn't need words. Asteria knew that her father had been watching her, so giving him a rundown of the past six months was pointless, and Poseidon knew that telling his daughter about the going-ons of Atlantis would be boring. Hell, the past six months had been boring. Well, there was one thing.

"My wife, and my son, Amphitrite and Triton, want to meet you some day."

Asteria shrugged, _'I've wondered what my step-family would be like. Should I bring my combi stick with me just in case, though?'_

Poseidon chuckled at his daughter's version of humor. "No, there will be no need for that. Those two have made it perfectly clear that it would only be a social visit, not an interrogation. Besides, it will happen in the sea, where I will be watching closely."

Asteria nodded. She could understand any ire that Triton and Amphitrite felt towards herself. She was, after all, the living personification of Poseidon's infidelity, and was more than likely a sore reminder for the Sea Queen, of her husband's unfaithfulness. Still, Amphitrite had gotten a sort of vengeance out of this. The woman that Poseidon had cheated on her with was killed shortly after the birth of the illegitimate child, and the child itself went through eleven years of torturous hell before finally losing it.

So Asteria was not going to deal with any bullshit from either of them.

The two fell back into a comfortable silence, watching the thunderless lightning show that Zeus' master bolt naturally generated in the skies of Olympus. Soon enough, Asteria brought up a different topic of conversation.

' _It's been fun there, but I find camp to be…boring. Don't misunderstand, I love it there; my friends are cool, the campers are nice, and Annabeth is an endless source of entertainment, but it's just…boring. There's such a limited amount of things for me to do, and less than half of those I can't seem to find any joy in doing._

' _I've practically cleared out the woods. I've made my bronze bullets. Combat class is redundant to an insane level. Anything I don't already know about ancient Greek or monster myths is easily remedied by a quick mental scan of any Athena camper. Lunch and dinner is arbitrary, and I don't sing around campfires. Even with my friends, I can't find any satisfaction,'_ Asteria thought exasperatedly.

Poseidon wasn't shocked at all, or even concerned. He knew from the get-go that Camp Half-Blood would only last for a short period of time, before Asteria would get restless. She was a true child of the sea, always changing, never one way for long, continuously longing for adventure.

"If you ever feel up to it, you should talk to your cousin, Artemis. I hear she's always doing something wild."

Asteria grinned at the thought. She was about to say something else, but then all of the lightning suddenly vanished…like the plug was pulled. Poseidon's jaw unhinged as he realized what had just happened, and Asteria just felt sadness worm its way into her heart.

The Master Bolt had been stolen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Later, after the gods transported their children back to camp_

 _Olympian Throne Room_

The gods were silent as Zeus glowered at all of them. The air was tense, the scent of ozone heavy in the air. The Sky God's silent wrath was not unfounded, however, for _someone_ had just _stolen_ his master bolt.

Electric blue eyes slid over to the guarded-looking Poseidon, "Brother. I trust that neither you nor your daughter have _anything_ to do with this theft?"

Poseidon shook his head. "I swear on the River Styx that Asteria was with me the entire time." Thunder boomed, sealing the true oath. Zeus' glare let up slightly, then his gaze slid over to the God of the Underworld.

Hades reclined lazily in his throne of bones, shadows curling around him like smoke. He gave off an air of indifference, but there was a fire burning with darkness in his eyes. He was just as disgruntled as Zeus. "Don't even think about it, Brother. Something was stolen from me as well."

"And what, _pray tell_ , would that be?"

"My Helm of Darkness."

That was enough for the gods to make their jaws drop. Hades' Helm of Darkness was his post prized, coveted, and guarded inanimate object. For it to be missing, along with Zeus' master bolt, something big was going on here. Something really big.

Zeus leaned back in his throne, gaining a new perspective. His gaze slid over to the ever-pondering Athena. "Daughter, what is your theory about what is going on here?"

The Goddess of Wisdom stroked her chin before responding. "Someone is trying to pit the gods against each other. Whomever stole the Helm and the Bolt would know about the rivalry between you three. Poseidon would've been the first to be blamed, and it would be predicted that you would've defended yourself vehemently. The thief is more than likely trying to start another war, playing on Father's wrath and Poseidon's pride to being falsely accused.

"Stealing Uncle Hades' Helm is most likely an attempt to get you involved in the dispute as well. The angle that's being worked could be that Uncle had his Helm stolen, so he responds by stealing the Bolt. Whatever is happening, it's clear that someone is playing us against each other, hoping that Father, Uncle Poseidon and Uncle Hades will go to war, and destroy the world. The thief is most likely trying to make all of us to pick sides, starting a full civil war as well."

Zeus hummed deeply, processing this information, devising a plan. When he opened his, the Gods of Olympus sat up a little straighter in their thrones. Zeus, the prideful, arrogant, and paranoid youngest son of Kronos had left the building. In his place, the King of Olympus, the one who imprisoned Typhon, the one who defeated Kronos, the God of the Sky, sat proudly in his throne at the center of the U.

"We are under attack from an outside force that wishes to see us destroyed. Right now, the thief believes that we are arguing and shouting in rage at each other, threatening war and bringing up old rivalries," Zeus suddenly smirked, a strange gleam in his eye.

The God of the Sky bolted up, his face red with 'rage.' "All of you!" Zeus thundered, "fan out and find my Bolt! If you can't find it, then Poseidon! Make sure your thief of a daughter brings it back by the Summer Solstice…or there will be _war!"_

Zeus flashed out with a blast of deafening thunder.

It was silent, before Poseidon shook his head, "Mother always said he should've been the God of Theater." He looked around at the stunned gods and goddesses, "Well what are you waiting for? I need to start preparing my armies for a war against my pig-headed little brother, and all of you to go find Sparky's flashlight!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Camp Half-Blood_

 _Next day_

 _Breakfast pavilion_

Chiron was sweating bullets and Mr. D looked very unhappy that mourning, as the campers all filed in for breakfast. Of course, they all noticed their directors' collective not-okayness, and they knew that something big had happened last night, but they had no idea what…save for a few.

Luke Castellan was poker face professional, so he pulled off looking just as confused as everyone else did without any fault. Stealing the Bolt and the Helm had been pathetically easy, especially so considering his powers and the extremely lax security around the divine artifacts.

The main snatch had been Aries. Of all the gods and goddesses to find Luke, it had been the God of War. However, that probably worked in his favor. Kronos had spoken through Luke, and, with a combination of sultry words, the Mist, and centuries of experience, the Titan had convinced Ares that a war of the gods would be the best thing ever.

It was good thing it was Ares, because Luke doubted Kronos could've pulled such wool over any other divine entity's eyes. Especially Artemis. Luke shivered at the thought of the Moon Goddess finding him; history had proven that Artemis was creative in punishing males, and the punishment for stealing her father's bolt…Luke shivered at the thought of the Moon Goddess finding him.

Once everyone had settled in, Chiron stood up and banged his hoof down on the ground, gathering all attention. "Last night, at about midnight, Lord Zeus' Master Bolt was reported missing."

Everyone gasped, shocked at such news. Lord Zeus' bolt? Stolen? Impossible! Asteria had no reaction; she had already read Chiron's mind. What was coming next was such utter bullshit, that the daughter of Poseidon saw through the deception like a piece of glass.

"Upon learning of this theft," Chiron said over the din of mutterings, "Zeus has issued a decree…that if Asteria Jackson, suspected thief of the Bolt, does not return it by the Summer Solstice…there will be war."

Shocked gasps rang out, and over a hundred heads swiveled to Cabin 3's table.

Asteria cocked a brow, _'What? You think I would go out of my way to steal something that I probably couldn't hold without getting vaporized? I was with my father the entire night, anyway, and, despite all of my powers, I can't duplicate myself.'_

That was enough to erase all doubt from almost everyone's mind. There were a few that still had some inkling of suspicion, but they were such a minority that they could be counted on one hand. Besides, their suspicion was quickly waning as they used the power of logic and deductive reasoning to rule Asteria out.

"Even so," Dionysus drawled. "Father said that _you_ have to be the one to return the Bolt, regardless of whether or not you're the thief. But there's no need for any immediate concern. The other Olympians are scouring the country as we speak, so the thief and the Bolt will probably be found within the week…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"…well, I've been wrong before," Dionysus said upon the morning of June 11th, 2006. Six months and the Bolt still had yet to be found. The campers were growing anxious, all of them choosing sides for the upcoming war, most of them correlating with the sides their own parents chose.

Asteria, against all better judgement, was beginning to become shunned among the campers, most of them voiding logic and blaming her for this mess. The daughter of Poseidon was just wondering when Chiron was going to authorize a quest, and who she was going to take with her.

Annabeth was definite, because the hybrid wanted to see how the regressed child would handle being in the real world. Who else was a complete tossup, because in all honesty, Asteria could easily solve this whole thing by herself. Just ask Luke.

If we were going for the logical angle, Clarisse was the obvious choice. Daughter of Ares, strongest in her cabin, capable fighter, could think on her feet, and was a good friend. Drew was a maybe, if only for her Charmspeak and archery, but in a straight-up fight, she was a no-go. Silena was the same, but her hand-to-hand skills were just a notch higher than her sister's. Beckendorf was also high on the list, but he didn't seem at all like the quest type.

The conversations among breakfast were silenced by the sound of hunting horn. Several campers groaned, many looked confused, Chiron paled, and Mr. D rubbed his temples irritatedly.

"What the fuck is wrong with Artemis?"

Asteria had to agree. What were the Hunters doing here?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zoё Nightshade was about as thrilled to be here as the rest of her sisters, except for Thalia. Thalia was excited to see her friend Annabeth Chase, and the foolish boy that was Luke Castellan.

Artemis had instructed the Hunters to come to Camp Half-Blood because with the deadline approaching, the goddess needed to divert her full attention to the search. The Hunters weren't insulted in the least, they realized that a matter of this magnitude was far beyond them, and their Lady needed every ounce of energy in order to prevent World War 3.

Still, being here, surrounded by all of these boys…bleh.

Although, if there was one positive thing to get out of this, it was that they would all get to meet the infamous Asteria Jackson.

Chiron trotted up to the battalion of silver-clad girls, and Zoё smiled warmly at her old friend. Chiron might have been male, but he was so old, and his sole purpose in life was to teach, not to play with the hearts of maidens. Nightshade recalled more than a few times over the centuries that Chiron had actually imparted his vast wisdom upon her. She would be lying if she said that she didn't consider Chiron a friend.

"Chiron, it's good to see thee."

The centaur nodded in greeting, a tired smile plastered on his face. "It's nice to see you again, Ms. Nightshade, after all these years. I trust this is not a social visit, however?"

Zoё shook her head, "I'm afraid not. M'lady needs to search for the Lord Zeus' Master Bolt with all haste. We would only sow her down."

"Ah. Well, we're having breakfast at this time, and we'll have our traditional Capture the Flag game tonight."

Zoё just smirked, "Are thee sure that thou are willing to undergo another defeat?"

Chiron smirked right back, "I wouldn't be so confident this time around, Ms. Nightshade. Our Asteria has proven on many occasions to be a terrifying force to be reckoned with. I doubt you'll be able to handle her so easily."

"I do look forward to testing the child's abilities myself. I've seen some of the things she can do, and am pleasantly surprised with her skill."

"Alright old people," Thalia snarked. "Can I talk now?"

Chiron chuckled at the girl's attitude, and Zoё sighed but stepped aside. Thalia hugged the centaur, and he hugged back as best as possible considering their height difference. "It's good to see you as well, Thalia. How have you been?"

"I've been great, even with Grandma's nagging almost every other night about one thing or another." Zoё spluttered indignantly, and the other Huntresses snickered behind their hands. "So how's Luke and Annie been?"

Chiron smiled, "Luke had been fine. He's proven to be quite adept at leading the Hermes Cabin." His smile turned mirthful now, "And Annabeth…well, let's just say that she's become unrecognizable from when you last saw her."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Chiron went to greet the Hunters, Asteria's mind into overdrive, _Death Note_ style. The world around her faded to black, and a poisonous green light shined from somewhere below, highlighting Asteria's face in a way that cast shadows across it.

' _Luke has successfully stolen the Master Bolt, but something has happened. He's not as nervous as he should be, no anxiousness at being caught. That means that he's either gotten rid of the Bolt and has hidden it somewhere he's sure no one will find it, or he's pawned it off to someone else. Damn that block on his mind!_

' _There's also whatever Zeus has been trying to pull. From the six months I was on Olympus, my uncle showed he is not that retarded as to blame me for his missing weapon, despite his legendary paranoia and rivalry with my father. Speaking of, Poseidon is not so petty as to prepare for war over a false accusation. Something else is going on here…_

' _Surely Athena would realize the deception that is in play. Of course…! Athena would recognize the rouse. She's smart enough to see that Luke is trying to create a war of the gods, but because no one but me and a few others know the identity of the thief…yes. It all makes sense now._

' _It's a ruse. The war, Zeus' anger, Poseidon's preparation. This is Athena's strategy. The gods are all playing along with what Luke would expect them to do based on past history. The Olympians are trying to draw the thief out of the shadows by pretending to go to war. If Luke is not careful, his entire plan, and Kronos', will blow up in his face…no, that's not true. I'm going to be the one who tears his plans to shreds, if only because the Oracle in the attic will be giving me a prophecy.'_

"ASTERIA!"

The daughter of Poseidon bolted into the air on reflex, sailing high and landing on top of a column, a feral hiss escaping her mouth. She stopped hissing when she realized it was Drew that had just screamed in her ear. Asteria's hiss faded into a growl of annoyance (and mild embarrassment), and she crawled down the column before flipping forward and landing on her feet.

"You tuned out on us, so I had to scream in your ear in order to bring you back to earth," Drew said nonchalantly.

Slitted eyes narrowed. _'If you had done that four years ago, I would've removed your head with my tail, and not lose an ounce of sleep over it. What do you want?'_

"The Hunters are here," Drew lazily jabbed her thumb behind her, "and their lieutenant wanted to say hi."

Asteria leaned over, her head popping out from Drew's body, according to the Huntresses' point of view, and she blurred in front of Zoё, making the Huntress blink in surprise. The telepath stealthy tore through the lieutenant's memories, all 3000 years of them.

Daughter of Atlas, loved Heracles only to be betrayed and left for dead by him which led to her pathological hatred for all things with a penis, had seen lots of her 'sisters' die, delighted in punishing and humiliating boys in a way befitting a new genre of torture porn, had been present at just about every major battle since Megiddo, and was fond of the loophole in Artemis' oath that said that the girls had to foreswear the company of men. In other words, in order to satisfy her eternal teenage hormones and urges, Zoё Nightshade was not shy about spending the night in someone else's tent.

"Did you enjoy the show in Antarctica?" Asteria asked 'verbally.'

Confused for a moment, Zoё gasped when she realized what the younger girl was talking about. "H-how do you know about that?"

"Seriously? Full moon, feeling of being watched, intensifying glow as if in shock when my arm was pulled off, the eternal handmaidens of Artemis eager to see me…it's not hard putting two and two together. But anyways, hi," Asteria said nonchalantly.

In all honesty, as much fun as it would be to go on some hunting trip to all over the United States every other day, the extreme anti-male sentiment among the Huntresses was sickening, and this was coming from a girl that had spent years around men and animals that had daily thoughts of putting their dicks in her vagina, ass, and mouth.

One white-coat had even made a porn journal of all things he wanted to do to Asteria.

While some of the Huntresses had truly tragic backstories (abusive father, dead family, witch trials, etc.), most of them joined for truly petty reasons. Their boyfriend broke up with them, their boyfriend cheated on them, their lover liked someone else more. It was pathetic really; one bad experience with a boy, and the girl ran off into a life of eternal periods, sex drive, and dildos.

Becoming a Hunter of Artemis, as a teenager, would forever lock you at what age you joined. So if you said the oath at fourteen, you would be fourteen forever until a monster got lucky and did you in. That meant that you got all the perks of being a fourteen-year-old girl for eternity. Since we've all had a Biology/Anatomy class, the author trusts he doesn't have to into detail of female puberty, and its long-lasting effects for hundreds of years.

"Nice to meet you, cuz!" Thalia exclaimed after a brief interlude of silence. Asteria grinned slightly at finally being able to meet her cousin, the daughter of Zeus. "Nice to meet you too, cousin."

"So, I've heard that you've become quite the bigshot here at camp," Thalia started.

Asteria shrugged, "Not really. I'm just the new girl with the All-Powerful Daddy that no-one wants to piss off."

Thalia chuckled. "I know the feeling. Everyone looking at you like you're their savior or something, or if they say the wrong thing our dads will smite them or something."

" _If you're all quite finished,"_ Dionysus interrupted in a tense tone, "most of us here would like to have their breakfast now."

The Hunters looked around, and acquiesced with the silent command at the looks of the _female_ campers. The males could all go screw themselves (which they probably did) if they thought that the Hunters would ever bow to their wishes. Fucking males, they needed to know their place, which was as furry bunnies complete with deer antlers.

Breakfast went along as usual, most people just ignoring the added presences. Chiron called up tables one by one starting from twelve up to three, everybody dumping some of the food on their plates into the brazier, with Asteria following the year-long routine of dumping her entire plate in before going off to lounge in her cabin until the next interesting thing came up.

Using her senses, she 'watched' as Thalia met up with Annabeth for the first time in years. Seeing her friend dressed the way she was, Grace was ready to start a war to find the person responsible for putting her little sister in pull-ups, but then she scowled upon hearing _why_ Annabeth had been regressed, and then laughed loudly upon hearing that Annabeth had been this way for almost a year now.

The daughter of Zeus found it just as humorous and fitting as just about everyone else in the camp did.

Because her schedule was boring today, Asteria instead spent the entire twelve hours from breakfast to dinner carefully monitoring each and every Huntress. It was interesting how none of them had any mental protection, so each girl was like an open book for the young telepath.

Lesbian enthusiasts would've had a field day with the silver-clad females.

Dinner had arrived and Asteria just seemingly materialized at her table, unknown to everyone. Chiron called up Cabin 3 with a smirk on his old face, enjoying the shocked looks and exasperated sighs of his children at Aster's antics. After dinner, and the Hunters all collectively wondering why they had never seen the hybrid eat, Chiron announced that it was time for Capture the Flag.

All campers against all Hunters.

With Asteria at the reigns, it was going to be a slaughter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Hunters never stood any real chance. Asteria had played on their pride like it was a fiddle…and telepathy, vibrations, pheromones, and electric fields also helped. Locating any and every trap that was set up was child's play, and luring away the few guards at the silver flag was easy enough with Connor and Travis Stoll's amazing taunts.

Asteria was going to kiss those two later on.

The Huntresses strategy was the classic divide and conquer, albeit with several times the speed. Create an obvious opening for the flag to draw away campers, while the main bulk of the immortal teenagers went after their appropriate flag.

The main problem with that strategy tonight, was that every single camper had formed the most imposing defensive squad the Huntresses had ever seen since Nazi Germany.

Combine the Stoll brother's distraction, Zoё's inability to quickly come up with an effective strategy for taking out a platoon, and Asteria's blinding speed, and the winning streak of the Hunters of Artemis was broken in a staggering ten minutes and twenty seconds.

The campers cheer almost shook the forest, and the silver-clad girls couldn't form the proper mouth movements to make words. Chiron just shook his head, both amused at the reactions, and relieved to have finally won a game of CTF against his technical niece's devout followers.

"Winner! Camp Half-!"

GROOOOOOOOO!

"Oh, now what!?"

A hellhound, one as big a dually, erupted from the shadows of the forest. Those that weren't completely stunned by its sudden appearance tried attacking, only to get knocked to the side. Arrows fired by anybody merely got stuck in the hellhound's thick fur. The giant dog's red eyes held only desire for one thing: Asteria Jackson.

The girl in question just stared at the approaching hellhound. Whoever summoned it (Luke) clearly did not have water on his mind. The hellhound crouched, and leapt forward with enough force to send loose gravel flying, it gaping jaws opened wide to swallow Asteria whole.

The daughter of Poseidon made a gripping motion with her hand…and the creek water not three feet from her surged up into a massive hand that caught the airborne monster. Asteria made a fist, and the hellhound exploded into golden dust.

"Well that was anticlimactic. Anyone have any idea how a hellhound got through the magic borders?"

"It must have been summoned by someone inside the camp," Chiron said grimly. "Asteria, please follow me. There are some things I would like to discuss with you."

"Race you to the Big House."

"Eat my dust, child."

Centaur and hybrid were off like a couple of cannonballs.

Thalia, and the rest of the Huntresses, were openly gaping. "Um…is it normal for her to race against Chiron?"

"Oh yeah," Beckendorf answered. "They both get a challenge out of testing the other's speed. Sometimes Aster wins, sometimes Chiron wins. There was this one time they raced up to Maine and back; now that was interesting."

Thalia just nodded dumbly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria made it first, a grin on her face. Chiron just sighed at his third loss in a row. He compacted into wheelchair form and rolled into the living room, the girl taking a seat on the couch, her tail waving around behind her.

"I'm sure that you already know this, but I'm going to tell you anyway. With Zeus' Master Bolt stolen, and the blame being aimed at Poseidon, a war is brewing and it's all centered around you. As cliché as it sounds, you are our only hope in restoring peace to the world, until some other threat rises. I'm officially authorizing a quest to retrieve the Master Bolt. Asteria Jackson, do you accept?"

The daughter of Poseidon just rolled her eyes. She got up from the couch, her tail waving idly, and ascended the stairs to the attic. She entered, taking note of the dust and trophies from times long past. The main thing she was interested in was the mummy dressed in a tie-dyed sundress, beaded necklaces, and had a headband holding back black hair.

The mummy of a woman sat up suddenly, opening her mouth to allow green mist to spill all over the attic, bathing it in snakelike glow. Asteria wasn't afraid; her body didn't produce the chemicals necessary to stimulate the emotions known as fear. However, caution was an instinct hardwired into her genetic code, and her danger senses went haywire when a voice broke through her mental defenses, and said in a disembodied voice: I am the Oracle of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.

Asteria narrowed her eyes. She recalled a story about this mummy, something about Hades and a trio of angels. Regardless of her curiosity, the Princess of Death asked her question:

"What is my destiny?"

The mist swirled thickly, congregating around a table with pickled monster-part jars on it. When the green faded, Asteria's shriek of fury shook the earth and shattered every glass thing within the borders of Camp Half-Blood. Four people were now sitting around the table, four people that should've been dead.

Jeb Batchelder looked at her and said in the voice of the Oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.

Ari Batchelder looked at her and said: You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.

H.G. Groves looked at her and said: You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.

 _Marian Janssen_ turned to look at Asteria, her face contorted into its usual taunting grin: And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end.

When Asteria could move again, her wings snapped into existence, and she _flew_ through the false images, blowing a hole out of the Big House's attic, her kinetic energy ripping multiple things out with her and strewing them across the yard. Asteria's rage had hit a boiling point, and she soared straight into the darkening storm cloud above, ignoring any and all logic.

Lightning streamed at her from all directions, but the hybrid either dodged them or shrugged them off each time one hit her. She flew higher and higher, just… _flying_. Eventually, she broke above the cloud into the upper atmosphere, and kept going.

The cool temperatures meant nothing to her, as well as the thin oxygen. Her lack of lungs and exoskeleton powering through the environment with biological perfection. Asteria began to coast down when her mind finally cooled off, and she realized that she was about to start kissing satellites.

She spun around slowly, and her eyes widened at the sight the she beheld: Earth. The sphere of blue, brown, white, and green stared back up at her. It was beautiful, peaceful, tranquil. From up here, it was hard to believe that the jewel below was drowning in a sea of blood, corruption, violence, and the hideous creature that was human nature.

Asteria resolved herself then, that she would do what she could to protect this planet. Protect her planet. Protect her _home_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Sorry about the later than usual update, but I've been feeling lazy, and I was lawn mowing the majority of the day, so I was kind of tired.**_

 _ **A quick recap of the chapter: canon has been officially reached. The Lightning Bolt had been stolen, the gods are a bit smarter and more logical this time around, the Hunters of Artemis have been introduced, and some groundwork is being laid, CTF went over smoothly and canonly, with minor differences, the Oracle decided it was a good idea to dredge up the past, and Asteria reacted appropriately.**_

 _ **Since you people are somewhat smart, you'll realize that canon's prophecy is not possible for this story, but never fear, for I have a plan.**_

 _ **Also,**_ _ **Green-Eyed Ghoul**_ _ **is in the lead with 61 votes,**_ _ **Son of Jashin**_ _ **is in close 2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **with 53 votes, and**_ _ **Roanapur's Sea-Devil**_ _ **is bringing up the rear with 30 votes. If you want your favorite of the three published, vote now, for the poll ends Thursday.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	21. The Lightning Thief Pt 2

_The Lightning Thief Pt. 2_

 _ **And the lovely Asteria Jackson takes the stage with all the vigor of a child on a sugar rush. A few eons ago, I once asked if y'all wanted me to update Leviathan, or go for royal ass-fuckery of canon. Well, the majority voted for Leviathan, but rejoice, for now it time for…royal ass-fuckery of canon.**_

 _ **And expect it to be**_ **royal.**

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own AVP or PJO

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, before Asteria ripped a hole through the Big House_

The campers and Hunters were all in their respective cabins, chatting about the recent CTF game, the Hellhound, and how Asteria was _finally_ getting a quest to put an end to this madness. The main topic of conversation was who the daughter of Poseidon was going to pick for her questmates.

The Hunters hadn't the faintest idea, because they hadn't been here long enough to see who Asteria's friends were. The campers all thought it was a tossup between some combination of Clarisse, Beckendorf, Silena, Drew, and the Stoll brothers. Most people were placing bets on Clarisse and Drew.

All conversation among the demigods was abruptly silenced by the _deafening_ shriek that erupted seemingly from everywhere, shattering the windows of each cabin. When the ear-splitting sound faded, it didn't take long for everyone to rush outside to see what the Hades just happened.

Then Asteria came barreling out of the attic with all the force of a condensed typhoon, before shooting up into the sky.

Thalia broke the silence. "Um…does she usually do that?"

"No," Drew shook her head. She could feel the boiling emotions that Asteria had just radiated. Anger, rage, fury, every synonym for mad spilled out from the girl in an endless torrent. Whatever the Oracle had shown Aster, it had triggered something really bad. "She doesn't."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria came back down to earth sometime later, making sure she didn't burn up upon reentry. She made quite the entrance too, dive-bombing straight into the canoe lake, sending a tidal wave washing over most of the camp. The soaking-wet campers helped brighten Asteria's mood.

She made her way to the Big House, very much aware of the crowd following her. They all had the same basic thoughts running around in their head: what happened, what was the prophecy, why did you blow up half the attic. She ignored them, and they were smart enough to not push anything.

Entering the Big House, she saw Chiron sitting with Dionysus on couches around a table, playing pinochle. Well, the wine god was sitting, the centaur was in horse form, with his legs curled up beneath him.

"Well if it isn't Miss Anger Management Issues. Have you calmed down yet, or do you need to crush something's skull underfoot?"

' _Shut up, Dionysus.'_

"My, my. Such disrespect. Maybe I should turn you into a dolphin, so that you and your father could be together always."

"Let's not be rash, Mr. D," said Chiron. "I admit, your, ah, _outburst_ last night was most irregular, Ms. Jackson, but we need to know the prophecy."

Instead of saying anything, Asteria _showed_ Chiron and Dionysus what happened last night, using her telepathy. When the replay was over with, Dionysus had the decency to cough in embarrassment, and Chiron had the familiar look of sympathy.

"Well, I'm off to Olympus for some emergency meeting. Ciao." The wine god vanished, leaving the scent of grapes in the air.

"Do you have a plan then, Ms. Jackson?"

' _Yeah. Go to the Underworld and try to get my Uncle to give me back the Bolt before the earth is scorched.'_

"As good a plan as any, I suppose. Do you know where the entrance is?"

' _DOA Recording Studios, Las Angeles. Valencia Boulevard.'_

"Any ideas on who you want with you?"

' _Annabeth and Thalia.'_

Chiron almost fell over. "A-Annabeth? Thalia? You hardly know Thalia, and the history you have with Annabeth is extremely rocky. Are you sure you want them? Why not Clarisse, or Drew?"

' _Because that's what everyone expects. And I'm not going to choose between my friends. Besides, I want to see what Chase can do in the real world, and I want to get to know my cousin.'_

Chiron made that 'if-you-say-so' face. "It's your quest. I'll just get a bag ready while you go pack whatever you need."

Asteria nodded and walked out. Without hesitation, she made a beeline straight through the crowd, everyone practically diving out of her way. _'Annabeth. Thalia. Pack whatever you need for a cross-country trip, now,'_ the telepath broadcasted to everyone.

Thalia blinked a few times, and Annabeth was torn between mortification and exhilaration. She was finally going on a quest! In public! Dressed as a toddler! Shit!

"Um…what?" Thalia said dumbly from somewhere in the crowd.

' _I didn't think it was possible to stutter using telepathy, cousin. Now you two hurry up; we have a war to prevent.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Annabeth's excitement won out over her reluctance, and now she was throwing random clothes into a bag. Hades, she was so excited right now, she didn't even think twice about what she was doing when she opened her underwear drawer and started packing her pull-ups.

The designs had been changed. The faded white had been replaced with solid pink. The princess designs on the front were bigger, and more detailed. And the fade-when-wet designs had been changed to a more flower-oriented style.

Someone coughed off to the side, Annabeth looked at her sister, Mckayla. "Yes?"

"Oh nothing. I just find it interesting that you're not complaining about having to wear a bunch of pull-ups while on a quest."

Annabeth juts blinked, not getting the point. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

"It means I need to have a chat with Asteria."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Celestial bronze bullets? Check.

Nickel-plated Desert Eagle with black pearl grip and muzzle break? Check.

Multiple 8-round, .44 Magnum cartridges? Check.

Neatly polished and well-maintained combi stick? Check.

That's all Asteria needed for this quest. Now, to answer the questions of the daughter of Athena at her door. The Princess of Death calmly walked over and opened her cabin door, just as Mckayla was about to knock. Blinking her grey eyes, the girl asked, "Did you know that Annabeth has grown accustomed to her pull-ups so much, that she didn't even hesitate to throw probably twenty of them into her bag?"

' _Yes. I also know that she's grown used to her lifestyle now, and I'm bringing her with me to see just how much of a lesson she's learned over the past year. If she lives up to my expectations, then she can go back to big girl clothes…or if she prefers, she can stay the way she is.'_

A brow raised. "You seriously believe she would _want_ to stay dressed as a toddler?"

' _Maybe. Maybe not. The human mind works in strange ways. But can you say that Annabeth has been entirely opposed to what's happened to her?'_

Mckayla thought about it, recalling the embarrassment and vehemence at the very beginning, to the calm and acceptance of now. No, Annabeth wasn't opposed to this. Not anymore. It was almost as if…as if…call her crazy, but Mckayla could swear that there were times when it looked as if Annabeth was _enjoying_ her punishment.

' _Don't dwell on it too much. I'll ask her on the quest, and she'll be free to choose which she prefers: panties or pull-ups.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Minutes later, the three girls were standing at the top of Half-Blood Hill. The camp had gathered to send them off, all of them waving. The Hunters were there too, most of them ecstatic over the fact that this was a quest of all-girls, with no boys at all.

The Stoll brothers felt wounded that they weren't going on the quest with their beloved Asteria. Clarisse was fuming over the fact that Annabeth had been chosen over her. Silena was understandably worried, as was Beckendorf, but they were both happy that at least _they_ would still be together. Drew, despite her own envy, understood what her baby sis was doing. By choosing Thalia and Annabeth, none of Asteria's friends would get jealous or mad at each other, just mad at Annabeth or Thalia.

Drew could also read little Aster's emotions. The girl was nervous of something—apprehensive, even. Something had her on guard right now, and whatever put Asteria Jackson on edge, was enough to bode ill for everyone else.

With one final farewell, the girls walked down Half-Blood Hill to the waiting van, driven by Argus the Security Head, who would take them all to a bus station in Manhattan. Then Luke came running down after them, with a box of shoes in his hand. Annabeth blushed, Thalia smiled, and Asteria's poker face activated.

"Hey, I don't know if these will help, but I figured I should give them to you anyway, just in case." Luke opened the box, and shouted, "Maia!" Asteria recognized the name as Hermes' mother's name. Little wings sprouted from the ankles of the shoes, and they fluttered up out of the box.

"Wow," Annabeth gasped, clearly amazed. "Flying shoes!"

"Yeah…f-flying shoes," Thalia said with false enthusiasm.

Asteria merely stared at the flying footwear intently. Something felt off about them, but she couldn't place her doubt. And why would Luke want to give them _flying_ shoes? As far as he should be worried, Asteria wasn't allowed in the air. Regardless, Annabeth accepted the gift with a broad smile.

Luke and Asteria locked eyes. Neither said anything, but the silent message passed between them was clear only to themselves. Asteria knew he was the thief, yet didn't harbor any ill-will towards him, and Luke was firm in his belief that he was doing the right thing.

Something was sparked then. Maybe it was admiration, some kind of understanding, maybe it was just their collective imagination, but _something_ had just started between Luke Castellan and Asteria Jackson.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I can understand you bringing Thalia, but why did you want _me_ to come too?" Annabeth asked nervously from the back seat of the van.

' _I want to see how you do here in the real world. All that talk of training and experience, well here you go. Also, I want to test you, and see how far you've come from calling me a lesbian fuck.'_

"Oh…thanks. And I'm sorry about that. It was a year ago, and I never apologized for it."

Asteria smirked. Progress was showing. However, _'Don't thank me yet. If I don't like what I see, I think I'm going to completely wipe your mind, and re-raise you from infancy. And apology accepted.'_

Annabeth whimpered slightly at the thought of going from toddler to baby. Having to ask to go to the bathroom was one thing, having absolutely zero awareness of when she needed to go was an entirely different nightmare altogether.

"Hey! Why did you want to bring me?"

' _I wanted to get to know my cousin better.'_

"Bullcrap. You know everything about Thalia already because you her mind." Annabeth immediately clamped her hands over her mouth after she registered her own ADHD outburst. Oh Gods, what was Asteria going to do to her now. The poor girl's mind ran through everything from loosening sphincter muscles to complete brainwashing.

Asteria was _highly_ amused by little Annie's outburst. The girl was panicking over what type of punishment she would go through now, but it all for nothing. Aster could hardly fault her for her ADHD.

Argus finally pulled up at the bus station, and drove off.

"So what now?" asked Thalia.

' _Now we head for the John F. Kennedy International Airport.'_

The daughter of Zeus stumbled. "Airport!? B-but we can't go to the airport! This is a quest, you know, monsters, danger, dramatic situations…"

Annabeth now realized the _real_ reason behind Asteria bringing Thalia along. Thalia was the daughter of Zeus, Hades was obviously the 'god who had turned' and his base was in LA, and the Sky God wouldn't blow a plane out of the sky on its way from Manhattan to the City of Angels if his daughter was on it, regardless if a child of Poseidon was on the same plane as well.

In short, Thalia Grace was an insurance policy, because Asteria was not about to _drive_ across America.

Speaking of the alien hybrid, she had wrapped an arm around Thalia's shoulder's and brought the trembling girl close. Asteria had the strangest smile on her face, like she knew something the others did not.

' _Dearest cousin. We are on a mission to stop the outbreak of World War 3. Our destination is in Las Angeles, California, and we have to be there and back here within ten days. Now, on foot, that is a most difficult task, and you are correct in that there would be monsters, which would prolong our endeavor. Besides, once we board the plane and take off, you won't even know we're in the air. You won't even have to worry about the window, and if you're truly terrified of being in your home territory, I can knock you out for the entirety of the flight. Regardless of your ironic acrophobia, we are not hiking across a continent. Now unless you want me to put you in one of Annabeth's pull-ups, move. Your. Ass.'_

"Y-yes ma'am!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They hitched a taxi, went to the airport, pulled some Jedi mind tricks and manipulated some Mist, and viola, first class seats on the 10:00 A.M. flight to Las Angeles for free.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, on Olympus_

Zeus palmed his face at the stunt his niece was pulling. Athena couldn't help but marvel at the brilliance of her cousin. Poseidon was as proud as a father could be.

"So Dad, are you going to blow them out of the sky?" Apollo asked.

"No, Son. I'm not going to bring intentional harm to my daughter, granddaughter, or niece. Besides, we're not actually going to war, and the strategy Asteria is employing is plausible enough for our enemies to believe."

"Aww, you do actually care for your children."

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to strip you of your godhood and throw you down to the mortal world."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria and Annabeth managed to get Thalia on the flight, but after that, acrophobia kicked in, and the daughter of Zeus threw a temper-tantrum/freak-out that resulted in Asteria knocking her cousin out.

Their first class seats were as luxurious as you would imagine, and sectioned off into their own personal cabin with a sliding door, three windows, two chairs, a couch, a circular cushion in the middle of the cabin, and a twenty-inch TV complete with 200 channels.

Asteria was sitting in a chair, Corinthian leather, cushioned, with pillows, staring out the window at the passing clouds. Across from her in the other chair, Annabeth was valiantly trying to distract herself from her growing need for the toilet by reading a book about architecture written in Ancient Greek. She was embarrassed as hell about asking Asteria to go potty, and she couldn't ask Thalia because…well, the punk/goth girl was passed out on the couch that was on the cabin wall, contentedly sucking her thumb.

Asteria was rather ticked off with Thalia's tantrum at the beginning of the flight, and this was her version of payback for the embarrassment.

' _You're going to need a new pull-up if you keep that up,'_ Aster said in Annie's mind.

Annabeth paused in her reading. What would cost her more pride, _willingly_ going in her pants, or asking Asteria to go potty? A few hours ago, the daughter of Poseidon had said that she would be testing Annabeth on this quest, perhaps this was part of the test. Taking a deep breath, the daughter of Athena pushed her pride to the very back of her mind.

"Can I please go use the potty?"

' _You may.'_

Annabeth bolted away in a blur of blonde and orange.

Asteria smiled faintly. Well that was as good a sign as any that Annie had changed for the better. For one who's fatal flaw is hubris, to ask the one responsible for putting her in training pants, with the stipulation of having to ask to go to the bathroom, lest she use her underwear, to ask to go potty, was a milestone indeed.

Annabeth came back minutes later, clear relief on her face. Asteria couldn't resist the opportunity to tease. _'Did you wipe good?'_

Annabeth blushed. "Y-yes."

' _If you're sure, then I better not see any stains in the seat of your underwear later on.'_

Annabeth was thoroughly embarrassed as she reopened her architecture book. Asteria was not yet done with her questioning, however. _'Do you like wearing pull-ups?'_

The girl was so surprised by the question, that she managed to choke on the air going down into her lungs. "N-no! Of course I don't like wearing these things! They're tight, restrictive, childish, warm, soft…stop looking at me like that," Annabeth blushed, and looked away from the soul-piercing eyes of Asteria Jackson.

' _Why don't you tell me the truth, Annabeth Chase. Do you like wearing pull-ups, or are you ready to go back to regular underwear?'_

Annabeth grit her teeth, subject to her own inner turmoil. After a year of wearing these things, she could barely remember what cotton felt like, and the thought of wearing panties again seemed so foreign, but the thought of wearing diapers for the rest of her life was hardly appealing. She hated the times when she had an accident; the feeling of her waste smashed up against her body was disgusting, but the feel of the trainers themselves…

"I-I don't know yet."

Asteria shrugged. _'You don't have to decide right away. But when we get back to New York, I expect an answer.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The plane was about an hour away from Las Angeles when Asteria detected the presence of someone who just _appeared_ on board. Only a god could do that, and Asteria knew the feeling of this god well. Why was Ares on the plane?

Luckily, Annabeth had fallen asleep in the chair, and Thalia was still out, still sucking her thumb (the amount of blackmail Aster had on her cousin was astounding), so neither girl ever knew about the god of war entering their cabin.

"Sup, cousin? How's this plane ride going?"

"It's going good. Why are you here, Ares?"

"To aid in your quest, of course. It's recently come to my attention that you're in desperate need of supplies."

"Thanks, but we have plenty of-"

Ares snapped his fingers, and all three quest bags suddenly vanished. "You sure about that?"

Asteria hoped Annabeth wouldn't need a change sometime in the future. Ares held out a blue nylon bag, and the girl accepted it, and looked inside. Clean clothes, underwear, some Oreos, and a few protein bars. Everything in here looked to have been randomly thrown in. The underwear that Ares had 'packed' was a black-lace thong, a package of Disney Princess themed panties in a size many times too small for either girl, and actual baby diapers that would never fit around Annabeth's waist.

"No need to thank for my generous hospitality, Asteria. I am a nice guy, after all…aw who the fuck am I kidding? I just thought that everything was going a little too smoothly for a quest, and decided to spice things up. Your welcome."

"Thank you," Asteria said through gritted teeth. She had to act like this was a major hindrance so Ares would leave before he did something seriously debilitating, like disable the plane, or give Annabeth explosive diarrhea.

"Eh, no problem kid. Good luck saving the world and all." Ares disappeared in a manner similar to Dionysus, but instead of grapes lingering in the air, the god of war left behind the scent of magnesium. The scent of fired guns.

Asteria looked at the bag, getting the same weird vibe from it as she did the shoes tied around Annabeth's feet…and that was the final piece of the puzzle. Luke—the Lightning Thief—gave the quest a pair of flying shoes with an off-feeling aura, and Ares—the pigheaded war god—just shows up out of the blue for no other reason than to be a dick by making the quest's perfectly good supplies vanish, only to give Asteria a bag that had a similar feeling to Luke shoes, that was packed with subpar shit.

Now it made sense as to why Luke didn't look nervous the day after the theft. He had been found by Ares, and had somehow managed to convince the war god to keep the Bolt hidden instead of using it for himself-hold the fuck up.

Ares has the Bolt. This blue bag felt really strange. Could it be?

Asteria promptly dumped everything inside the bag on the floor, spilling out diapers, panties, shirts, jeans, skirts, socks, and food stuffs everywhere. Nothing that remotely resembled a lightning bolt. Looking inside, running her hand along the inner lining, just to make sure there wasn't some hidden compartment, Asteria was disappointed-and highly suspicious-to find no such thing.

Even so, there was something strange about this bag, and those shoes. Asteria's instincts were screaming that these things were not to be trusted, and if there was one thing Subject 3 listened to above all else…

…it was her instincts.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Mostly talking this chapter, I'm sorry. But I couldn't leave my adoring fans without a Saturday update, especially after my Friday absence.**_

 _ **Speaking of, the waterpark was a blast. Rode some slides, got glued to the Lazy River, got to watch the girls dig their bikinis out of their asses, and flirted with the lifeguards. Funny story, that: there were these two lifeguards, girl and guy, standing next to each other. So I went up, sunglasses hiding my eyes, and said that I think you're really hot. The girl blushed and said thank you, but I interrupted her by saying 'Sorry, I wasn't talking to you.'**_

 _ **The looks on their faces after that…made my day.**_

 _ **Also, went to go see Suicide Squad today. Movie was good, characters were well-played, but the plot was kind of dumb. I liked Enchantress better as the shadowy Aztec-girl, instead of Disney's live-action Elsa.**_

 _ **Anywho, a serious question regarding Annabeth Chase. Do you guys want her to go back to panties, or have her punishment lifted, yet still wear pull-ups because she likes how they feel? I'm interested in what you all have to say about this.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	22. The Lightning Thief Pt 3

_The Lightning Thief Pt. 3_

 _ **Yay! I got this one out pretty quick if I do say so myself.**_

 _ **Interestingly enough, if I was to take a vote on Annabeth's future, the ballet would be tied, so I guess the unofficial pole is still open.**_

 _ **Not much to say here, other than this will be the concluding chapter of the Lightning Thief arc.**_

 _ **That being said, Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The plane touched down at the airport without problems. Well, as far as the passengers were concerned, there were no problems. Some geniuses thought that they could pull off a hijacking mid-air. Just some stereotypical Middle Eastern would-be terrorists looking to suicide bomb into the airport.

Asteria had those guys made the second she stepped foot on the plane, and had allowed them to continue with their little plan until they decided to put it into motion. It was all too easy to enter their minds and _convince_ them not to do that. Instead of causing an international incident, those men would be turning themselves into the authorities, and giving up all the information they had on certain locations, people, and events.

All in a day's work for the daughter of Poseidon.

Now it was time to disembark.

Asteria gently shook Annabeth, and the blonde stirred before yawning, her arms sticking straight up, her mouth falling open, and her back audibly cracking. The hybrid walked over and shook Thalia awake, but was met with resistance. The thumb-sucking goth groaned around her finger, before rolling over and showing her cousin her back.

Annabeth giggled, and Asteria's lips curled into a nasty grin. Thalia wanted to play hardball? Asteria could play hardball too. A clawed finger made its way to the seat of Thalia's jeans, before slowly pressing in. The denim and underlying cloth offered no resistance to the invading digit, but the daughter of Zeus did not suddenly leap up with a shout as expected. Instead, Thalia moaned at having her butt poked.

"Oh, Luke~…"

Annabeth suddenly turned a violent shade of red, while Asteria cocked a brow as a scent entered the air, a scent that originated from Thalia. Okay, Plan B then. The daughter of Poseidon promptly slapped her cousin on the head, and she woke with a start.

"Whowhatwherewhy is my thumb wet? And why does my butt feel weird?"

' _A) I'm pretty sure your thumb is not the only thing that's wet around here, and B) your butt feels weird because you were dreaming about Luke…while using your finger.'_

Thalia looked lost for a moment, before her cheeks started to gain color while the rest of her face began to lose it. "Y-you didn't see anything. Nothing h-happened."

Annabeth was still blushing, while Aster looked amused. _'Of course not, cousin. Come on, we've landed, and if we hurry, we can make it back for the returning flight.'_

"What? Landed-you sneaky brat. You knocked me out!" Thalia accused.

' _Mm-hm. Because you threw an infant-level tantrum, and I admittedly lost my patience before hitting the back of your head really hard. Then I made you suck your thumb like a baby.'_ Thalia looked like she wanted to zap something.

' _I debated putting you in of Annabeth's pull-ups, but I decided that would've been overkill. However, the amount of blackmail I have on you…'_ Asteria's grin was positively serpentine. But not like the Director's. Hers was filled with malice, and wicked intent. Aster's was teasing.

Thalia blushed something fierce, but any retaliation was ended by Asteria exiting the cabin, quickly followed by Annabeth, who sent a teasing grin at her big-sister figure. The daughter of Zeus's just gaped at how she had been blown off by _both_ younger girls.

Then reality set back in, and she scrambled to follow her questmates.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The distance between Los Angeles International and Valencia Boulevard was little over an hour away with perfect drive time. Hitching a taxi was easier than hitching an airplane, and the long drive time gave Asteria time to think.

This was the state of California, the state that she had blown halfway to Hell with a super-chemical fire, and her own divine powers, and yet life continued here as if nothing had happened. It was amazing how people could move on from things. The events of 9/11 were proof of that; a few days the country was united in mourning, and then life moved on as if nothing had happened.

However, this _was_ the south part of California.

A few hundred miles north would be a different story.

"Hey, where's our bags?" Annabeth asked. Asteria was honestly surprised that they were only just noticing that. _'Ares popped in and decided that our quest was going too easy, and made our bags disappear. But he was nice enough to give us this one.'_

The hybrid opened up the bag, and Thalia and Annabeth looked inside…and promptly frowned. The Huntress reached inside and pulled out the thong. "Ares doesn't expect me to wear this, does he? I don't where thongs, and I'm pretty sure you don't either."

Asteria shook her head. _'No. I don't wear clothes period, much less underwear.'_

Thalia blinked and was about to ask another question, but Annabeth pulled out the package of panties and a diaper. "Both of these are way too small for me. These panties are for toddlers, and this diaper is for a newborn. How, exactly, was Ares trying to help us?"

The girls put the items back in the bag, and Asteria shrugged. _'Not a clue.'_

Annabeth didn't believe that for a second. Aster had a theory, but for whatever reason, she wasn't sharing it. The daughter of Athena didn't push, however. Pushing would be bad. Respecting the other girl's privacy was good.

Seeing that the others were now quiet, Thalia finally got the chance to ask her question. "If you don't wear any clothes, then what's covering your…your…you know…your…?"

Asteria cocked a brow at the blushing, stuttering daughter of Zeus. _'Vagina? Crotch? Privates? Snatch? Beaver? Pussy? Need I continue giving synonyms for our sexual organs? Come one, Thalia. We're both girls here, and I would expect you to be mature enough to use the proper terms here. But to answer your question, Mist. I'm not actually wearing anything at all.'_

Thalia kept turning deeper shades of red at each word, but at the answer to her question, she burst out, "So you're actually naked!?"

Asteria winced at the volume. Damn her sensitive ears. _'Yes. I am naked right now.'_

Thalia stared at her cousin for a second, before she quickly rummaged through the bag and pulled out the thong, and jabbed it at Asteria. "Put these on," she commanded. She received a blank stare. Thalia waved the panties some more, "You _can't_ go around without at least underwear on." More staring. " _Please_ put them on. It's making me uncomfortable thinking about you being naked."

Asteria stared some more, before she clicked her teeth. _'Thalia. Please put that on your head, and wear it like a mask. And suck your thumb, too.'_

The daughter of Zeus's eyes glazed over, and Annabeth giggled when she did what Asteria told her to do.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The trio arrived outside the entrance to DOA Recording Studios, and when the driver asked for payment, Asteria slit his throat with her claws, his blood pouring down the front of his clothes as his head slammed into the steering wheel.

The other two stared with jaws agape, but Thalia recovered first. "What the Hades, Asteria!?"

The hybrid turned to face her cousin, and Thalia gulped at how her visage was perfectly reflected in those slitted, poisonous-green orbs. The admittedly cute and friendly-in-her-own-way daughter of Poseidon was not home at the moment; instead, the hardened, remorseless killer was at the helm.

' _Ricardo Peña. Age 35. No family. Known cartel member. Traffics drugs and humans. Suspected in the murders of three women, eight men, and thirteen children. Past-courier of test subjects for the School.'_

Her piece said, Asteria exited the taxi.

Thalia was still mortified and confused, but now Annabeth could only feel sadness and sympathy. She patted Thalia on the shoulder causing electric blue to meet dark grey. The daughter of Zeus's questions died in her throat at the emotion in the younger girl's eyes.

"There's something about this school that's a sore subject, isn't there?"

"You have no idea. Come on, we need to make sure Asteria doesn't piss off the wrong person with her now-sour attitude."

The two girls scrambled out of the cab, not even worrying about people finding the body of Ricardo. The Mist would handle it…hopefully. And if not, Asteria had Charles Xavier-esque telepathy. Wiping some minds wouldn't be a problem for the daughter of Poseidon.

Entering the lobby, Thalia and Annabeth noted the number of transparent specters hanging about. The spirits of the dead, they realized with a shiver. Asteria was standing in front of a podium with a well-dressed man seated behind it, her tail waving behind her.

Thalia and Annabeth made doubly sure to avoid the waving appendage.

"Well, well," the man said, a British accent in play, "if it isn't Little Aster, Zeus's brat, and Athena's oversized toddler. What can I do for you three ladies today?"

Asteria promptly dumped an entire sack of drachmas on the podium. _'Take us to the Underworld. Now. And all of this is yours, Charon.'_

The Ferryman of the Dead eyed the gold from behind his glasses. Then he nodded his head. "This'll do, mate. Right this way, then."

Charon moved over to the elevator door, glaring at the spirits. The girls followed after him. Opening the doors revealed a few more spirits already inside. The four entered, and several spirits tried to clamber aboard, but it was Asteria that made them freeze in place. The elevator doors shut, and the other two girls couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear.

Not at going to the Underworld, but at Asteria's ability to instill fear even into the dead.

The Princess of Death's thoughts were on another page, however. She had been down here before with her uncle to undergo therapy sessions. Although, assisting in the torture of various men and women that were once members of the School hardly counted as therapy, but Aster found it highly cathartic. However, in all the times she had been to the Underworld, she had never inquired about the whereabouts of the Flock. She had always assumed that they were happy together in Elysium, but now…but now there was a disturbing feeling in her gut that her family was not in paradise.

And that really worried her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Charon rowed his massive ferry up to the shore, and spoke directly to Asteria before she disembarked. _"I know what you seek, child. Be careful, for you may find what you are looking for."_

That really did not help with Asteria's confidence in this matter.

The girls stood together on the black sands, with Thalia and Annabeth nervous, confused and lost. _'Come on,'_ Asteria thought to them, _'I know the way.'_

"You've been here _before_?" Thalia asked, dumbfounded. Annabeth was in the same boat as her long-time friend, but she was a little more in the know, and had her own theory as to why Asteria had been to the Underworld.

' _Yes. Now come on. We have a world to save.'_

Thalia and Annabeth followed the hybrid up the beaten path without a word. Asteria was projecting an unfriendly aura at the moment, and the daughter of Zeus, despite her fatal flaw of ambition, was not arrogant nor prideful enough to say anything. Eventually, a massive wall could be seen, and the keening sound of a dog could be heard.

Thalia fingered her mace canister, and Annabeth was growing increasingly nervous. Asteria showed no fear, however. The walls got bigger, the keening turned into barking and howling, and two of the three females almost lost control of their bodily functions at the sight that beheld them.

A massive Doberman with three heads. Cerberus.

The spirits of the dead passed beneath the hound's gigantic legs, and Annabeth and Thalia were really hoping that Cerberus had already been to the bathroom. Scratch that, they didn't want to come anywhere near that beast, but Asteria did not hesitate, falter, stumble, squeak, or pee a little in her pants.

Thalia hadn't been this afraid since that Cyclopes incident so many years ago.

When Asteria was probably thirty feet away, Cerberus growled a little softer, but when poisonous green with black sclera met burning red, the offspring of Echidna and Typhon whimpered, averting its eyes. The daughter of Poseidon passed underneath without issue, but Thalia and Annabeth comically clung to each other as they passed underneath the hairy monster.

They both made a valiant effort to not stare at Cerberus's massive dong.

They failed.

Moving past Cerberus, the girls walked straight through the EZ DEATH line without any issue. Asteria literally threw spirits out of the way. Walking through the metal detector, nothing happened, and the daughter of Poseidon began to scan the ungodly crowd, praying that she wouldn't find who she was looking for.

In a moment of supreme surprise, Annabeth slipped her hand into Asteria's, and the hybrid's head whipped to the right so fast her neck audibly cracked. The daughter of Athena was looking at her with sympathetic eyes.

"Come on," she said. "We need to get to Lord Hades' palace. You know, to prevent World War 3."

Asteria stared for a moment, before she closed her eyes and nodded. Annabeth had realized what Aster was doing, and the daughter of Athena moved in to restore focus to the proper task at hand. For now, the daughter of Poseidon would not search…she would postpone her search…she would…she would…Asteria shook her head wildly, causing her tendril-like tresses to dance.

She needed to focus here.

Her eyes snapped open, and she squeezed Annabeth's hand before letting go and taking off at a brisk pace through the crowd of dead people, the blonde hot on her heels. Thalia was just hoping that no one would see the small wet spot on the crotch of her jeans.

It seemed that everything was going fine, but good ol' Murphy made his presence known…in the form of Annabeth's flying shoes suddenly sprouting wings and zooming away, dragging the screaming girl with them.

Thalia yelped and gave charge, and Asteria's eye twitched. She highly doubted it was Luke's intention to get Annabeth thrown into Tartarus, but _this_ was still happening. In a completely unrelated subject, the daughter of Athena now needed a new pull-up…of which the quest had none.

One problem at a time. Save Annabeth first, worry about underwear later.

Asteria streaked forward, many times faster than Thalia, and easily caught up to Annabeth. The poor girl was being dragged across the dead grass by her feet, on her back, unable to reach the shoes. Asteria reached down, and grabbed the flailing hand of her friend(?), but she was caught off guard by the amount of magic driving the shoes, and ended up losing her balance.

Not one to panic, Aster slammed her hand down on the grass, but there was too much kinetic energy for film on her palm to gain traction. Still, not panicking, she instead dug her claws into the ground, tearing five little trenches through the Underworld. Minimal change in speed resulted in the tail blade being added. A bigger change in speed-slower-made Asteria dig her feet in too.

And just in time.

The two girls came grinding to halt at the mouth of a massive pit. Asteria managed to create enough friction to stop herself, but poor Annabeth went flopping over the side. Luckily, she had a death grip on the pure-black forearm of Ms. Jackson, and the hybrid had a death grip on Annabeth's forearm.

"Please pull me up," she whispered in shock. The flying shoes on her feet wriggled free, and flew down into the pit. Grey eyes followed the sneakers as they descended, and Annabeth's mind went _dead_ from fear. Then poor girl's bowels involuntarily moved.

Asteria's nose wrinkled slightly at the familiar smell combination of pee and poop. She couldn't blame Annabeth for doing that, though. If the daughter of Poseidon still had those functions, she probably would've needed new pants, too. They were at the entrance to Tartarus, after all.

With minimal effort, the Princess of Death hauled up the vegetative demigoddess over the edge, just as Thalia came running down, out of breath. "Are you two…all right?" she asked between pants. "Hey…what's that...smell…oh."

No further commentary was needed.

In the newfound silence, Asteria's sensitive ears picked up the sound of whispering. Ancient, powerful, _evil_ whispering in an unknown language. And that was all Asteria needed to haul ass out of there. She sprang up, throwing the vacant-eyed Annabeth over her shoulder, and looped her other arm around Thalia's midsection.

The hybrid sprinted full force up the tunnel, fighting against the combined weights of the two girls, the bag, and the suction of the pit. It didn't help that the ceiling was collapsing, either.

The efforts of Kronos were all in vain, however, as his diminished power had little effect on an object moving at 200 miles per hour. Asteria blurred out of the tunnel, dust and a roar of anger racing after her as the tunnel to the Pit collapsed.

The daughter of Poseidon set the others down. Annabeth was still braindead from sheer terror, and Thalia threw up all over the dead grass. Not surprising, considering she had just moved faster than most motor vehicles could go without special engines, without warning.

"What just happened?" Thalia asked weakly.

' _Our grandfather put a spell on Luke's gift just now, and tried to drag Annabeth down into Tartarus with him. I managed to save her, but the result of that made our grandfather get mad, and he tried to pull all of us down there. He failed, but we have a bigger problem right now. Annabeth's comatose right now from fear, and there's a pressing issue regarding diaper rash.'_

"Diaper rash? So Annabeth really did _go_ in her pants?"

' _Yes. Almost falling into Tartarus can do that to a person. Don't laugh; you're not dry either, Thalia. What? Did you think I wouldn't smell the pee in your pants? I knew you wet yourself the moment we approached Cerberus.'_

"At least it's not as bad as what Annabeth did!" Thalia defended petulantly.

A brow was raised. _'Your point is what, exactly? Annabeth had an accident, you had an admittedly smaller accident, but you both soiled your pants. But this is irrelevant. We need to get Annabeth functioning properly again, and come up with a solution that will spare our noses, and Chase's ass.'_

At this moment, Annabeth's mind began to reboot…with one glaring issue that had Asteria internally screaming in a combination of frustration, indignation, and incomprehension.

Intelligent light returned to Annabeth's eyes, and she sat up slowly, her weight shifting to her posterior. She froze at the movement when she registered a foreign sensation originating from there. And then the smell hit her. Her eyes teared up, before she looked at Asteria, and the previously mentioned issue reared its head.

"M-Mommy!" the daughter of Athena launched herself at the hybrid, wrapping her arms and legs tightly around the demigoddess, and began to sob loudly into Asteria's shoulder. On reflex, the Princess of Death wrapped her own arms around Annabeth, the left around her back, and her right across her bottom…which only made Annabeth cry harder, and Asteria to cringe.

Despite the severe psychological issue at hand here, Thalia couldn't help but crack up at what she was watching. The proud and strong daughters of Athena and Poseidon, one viewing the other as her mommy, and the other completely freaked out over what was happening. However, Asteria was swift to take revenge on Thalia.

' _Suck your thumb like you would suck Luke's penis.'_

With Thalia now occupied with putting on a show with her tongue, Asteria tried her hand at calming down the bawling Annabeth by gently rocking her in her arms. This was _such_ an unnecessary pain in the ass. Changing the girl was going to be bad enough, but now there was the issue of Annabeth's fear-damaged mind now associating Asteria with 'Mommy.'

The mentally damaged girl finally calmed down, and her thoughts became coherent enough for Asteria to fully analyze the damage. Everything was technically fine; all memories were intact, all experiences were there, and every neuron was firing correctly—oh there was the problem.

In an analogy of a computer, Annabeth's mind had 'shut down' so it could 'reboot.' During the process of 'rebooting,' a 'sub-program' had been added to the 'coding', a program that had combined her punishment, and the one who approved of it, into something as irrational as it was simple.

Asteria==Mommy.

The daughter of Poseidon couldn't figure out if this was some kind of regression thing, or if Annabeth's mind had been permanently damaged, but one thing was for sure. Annabeth Chase was a psychology professor's wet dream.

Over to the side, Thalia moaned quietly.

"Mommy, I-I need a-a-"

' _I know. Please, be quiet while I think.'_

"Okay, Mommy."

Asteria's brow twitched, and she conked Annabeth on the head with her tail, knocking the damaged girl out cold. Thalia let out a high-pitched squeal, and Asteria brain-blasted her cousin into unconsciousness out of frustration.

Great. Now _both_ of the girls needed new underwear.

If this was what motherhood was going to be like, Aster was not letting an erect phallus anywhere near her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hades was treated to the most interesting sight when his nieces walked into his throne room.

Thalia seemed to be fine, but she was walking funny and kept grabbing at her posterior. Annabeth also seemed to be fine, except she was making a valiant effort to look at anything besides Hades' final niece, and she kept tugging at her knee-length skirt. And Asteria…she looked frazzled and irritated.

The God of the Underworld didn't need to ask why, though. Omnipotence within his domain was a wonderful thing. He was just wary about how Asteria would react when she saw the Flock. That was going to be another nightmare, perhaps not on par with what happened on the Winter Solstice a year-and-a-half ago, but a nightmare nonetheless.

"Nieces," Hades drawled, oily and smooth, yet dark and dangerous. "Quite brave of you to come down here to me, with _that_ weapon."

Despite his superior façade, Hades was rather confused. The bag that Asteria had on her shoulder had the Bolt in it, but it was clear that none of them realized it. Speaking of the bag, where had it come from?

Asteria seemed to pick up on it, because her eyes narrowed, before she began rummaging through the bag…and pulled out a two-foot-long cylinder of bronze that was capped with spikes. The other two gasped, while Hades raised a brow.

The daughter of Poseidon met her uncle's piercing gaze. "This bag was given to us by Ares while on the plane. At the time, the Bolt was definitely not in there, at least, not visibly."

"Ares? He was the one who stole the Bolt?" Hades asked slowly as his mind went to work on the logic behind the theory that his nephew had also stolen his Helm of Darkness.

Aster shook her head. "No, someone else stole the Bolt, but Ares caught the Thief, and was somehow convinced to keep the Bolt without turning the Thief in. Most likely it was the promise of war that swayed Ares' judgement."

Hades hummed deeply as leaned back in his throne, closing his eyes in thought. The souls embroidered on his robes shifted and wailed soundlessly. The souls embroidered on his boxers also shifted and wailed soundlessly. So, Ares had some connection to the Thief, and most likely had his Helm of Darkness as well.

Well, there wasn't anything else that could be done about it now, other than return the questers to the surface. Ares would most likely be up there, waiting in case Hades' nieces came out alive. The war god was probably banking on the Underworld Lord's killing of the girls to start a war. Disappointment was abounding.

"Go then, Niece. Return to the surface. Return the Bolt to my brother. And get the hell out of my domain." Hades 'glowered' at Asteria.

The girl smiled faintly, before putting the Bolt back into the bag and walking away. Thalia followed nervously, but Annabeth had something to say. "Um, Lord Hades? Wouldn't it be easier to transport us to Olympus?"

Hades just stared at the blonde commando. She squeaked before hustling after the others.

Huh. It would be easier, and logical, and appropriate, to flash them all to the Empire State Building, but for some reason, Hades could not bring himself to care about doing it. What a strange feeling.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Um, Asteria? About that whole 'Mommy' thing-"

' _Never happened, I know. Your brain was damaged but I fixed it. Everything is perfectly fine now.'_

"Oh, thank the gods…"

Something else that never happened was the pheromones Annabeth had been exuding during that brief little ordeal. In layman's terms, Chase's budding sexuality had made itself known. Hopefully that was an isolated incident, because Asteria was _not_ dealing with lesbian ageplay.

The Director had been enough of that.

"So what are we doing now?" Thalia asked.

' _Now we're going across the Asphodel Fields, back to the Styx, up the elevator, to the airport, across the country, up the elevator, across Olympus, and to the Throne Room. Shouldn't take more than eight hours.'_

"B-Back on a p-plane?"

' _Yes. We need to get your acrophobia under control, because this is just embarrassing. I find exposure therapy to work best, however.'_

"Uhmmm…"

' _Do I need to make you suck your thumb again?'_

"No, ma'am!"

' _Good. Then shut up and follow me.'_

The girls did just that. However, while Thalia and Annabeth were focused on moving forward, Asteria was stretching her senses to the maximum (no pun intended). Again however, scanning the dead was a lot different than scanning the living. The dead had no coherent thoughts to read, they gave off no pheromones, and they had no bioelectricity.

Only by their movements could Asteria distinguish between the spirits, due to their constant shuffling. But she prayed that she would find nothing, for if she found what she sought, her heart might not take it. Halfway through the Field, and no success, which was good. It seemed as if Asteria's fears were unfounded, because two-thirds to the Judgement Pavilion yielded no results…but the Fates were cruel.

WHOOSH  
WHOOSH  
WHOOSH  
WHOOSH  
WHOOSH  
WHOOSH

Thalia and Annabeth didn't hear them because of their less than spectacular hearing, but Asteria heard them. She heard them loud and clear. She felt them alight on six poplar trees 381 yards away, due to the trees sending out seismic waves because of the shifting weight.

Asteria turned her head slowly, as if taking her time would make all of this a just a bad dream. Alas, this was not a dream. This was reality. And reality was just a synonym for tragedy.

There, several hundred yards away, crouched on the tops of the poplar trees, were six figures. These figures were dressed in the robes typical of a spirit, but their sizes were not hidden. Three of the figures were about the same size, the fourth and fifth figures were smaller and smaller still, and the sixth and final figure couldn't be any bigger than a five-year-old. The most peculiar thing about these figures was their sizes, their location, or even the group they were in. It was the _wings_ sprouting from their shoulder blades.

The Flock had been sentenced to the Fields of Asphodel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Woah-ho-ho, shits gonna hit the fan with this, but since we all know the prophecy, we can all guess how it's gonna end, too.**_

 _ **I guess this ending makes me the DJ Khaled of Fanfiction. In regards to cliffhangers…another one, and another one, and probably another one after that. But hey, it keeps you poor saps coming back for more, so I guess it works.**_

 _ **School tomorrow, along with more nighttime driver's ed, so the next update for any story is up in the air. On a side note, I get my learner's permit within the next 72 hours, so yay!**_

 _ **Fav! Follow! And Review like crazy!**_


	23. What Matters Most Pt 1

_What Matters Most Pt. 1_

 _ **It's been a month since this story was updated, too. Sorry about that, but those who have been following me know that I've been busy on my other stories. I said that last chapter would conclude the Lightning Thief arc, but it didn't. Sorry about that, too.**_ _ **This**_ _ **chapter will end the arc.**_

 _ **The final scenes in the Underworld, the fight with Ares (which will be different than canon), the talk on Olympus, and the wrap up of summer.**_

 _ **Without further ado, I present the next thrilling chapter in the amazing saga of Robotech-I mean Xenomorphic.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Steam was spilling out from Asteria's mouth as she constantly sucked in the surrounding air. She was trying to calm down, she really was, but _oh my gods was she in a rage_!

The Flock! Her family! In Asphodel! What the _fuck!?_ Why weren't they in Elysium!? Those damn judges-her motherfucking uncle-those clit-licking Fates! She needed answers; she was going to get answers; and she was going to get them right the fuck _now._

Thalia and Annabeth, deeply frightened by their friend's sudden hostile behavior, backed away slowly, but when they saw Asteria jerk towards the direction of Hades' palace with a vicious snarl ripping across her features, they made to try and restrain the irate daughter of Poseidon, only for her tail to lash out, bashing both of them on the head with enough force to knock both of them out like lights.

Meanwhile, in his palace, Hades was face-palming. Of course his niece would somehow manage to find her past friends in the endless expanse of Asphodel, just because they lit on a bunch of trees. Honestly, this whole mess wouldn't be happening if that telepathic child hadn't decided to be a martyr. This whole mess wouldn't be happening if Maximum hadn't brokered a deal with the judges in order to prevent Angel from going to the Fields of Punishment for indirectly causing the deaths of millions of people.

Oh dear. Asteria didn't know what Angel had done.

 _This_ was highly problematic.

Back with Asteria, the raging preteen was torn between ripping across the Asphodel Fields back to her uncle's palace, screaming from here so that the Lord of the Dead would appear before her, or trying to get her family out of her post haste. Orpheus almost did it, so she could _definitely_ do it.

But, lying deep beneath her surface of churning anger, was a cold abyss of betrayal. Asteria had been down here several times to torture the white-coats for what they had done, and not once had Hades mentioned there whereabouts of the Flock; hell, her uncle hadn't even said a passing word about Sally Jackson, Aster's mother.

Actually, come to think about it, Aster herself hadn't even had a passing _thought_ about either the Flock or her mother, and there was only one logical explanation for that: Mist. Hades had used the Mist on her to block her thoughts about her family members. And that thought caused a tremor to rumble through Los Angeles, making four million people panic.

Asteria Jackson came to a decision: beat Hades' skull in, and run out of the Underworld with the Flock in tow.

Just before she could take off for the palace, a pillar of shadow sprang up in front of her. The shadow faded away, reveling the ten-foot-tall form of the God of the Underworld. Asteria shrieked in a way that would've had any self-respecting Queen clapping in approval as she launched herself at the god. Hades, while perfectly understanding of his niece's anger, was not about to stand idle and take inhuman-level punches to the face, and being on his home turf gave him certain advantages against intruders and otherwise unsavory individuals.

Simply put, Hades merely allowed Asteria to fly right through him as though he wasn't there, and then he had shadows wrap around the hybrid as soon as she landed. Asteria struggled mightily against the supernatural restraints, but they were fueled by the essence and will of Hades, and his power far outstripped that of the half-blood, despite her incredible strength.

Realizing that she wasn't strong enough to brake her bindings, Asteria bared her translucent teeth with animalistic fury, saliva dripping from her maw.

' _Why!? Why didn't you tell me they were in Asphodel!? Why didn't you tell me they weren't in Elysium!?'_

Hades' eyes vibrated slightly in their sockets due to the intensity of the mental tirade. When the world came back into focus, instead of verbally answering, the God of the Underworld _showed_ Asteria the judging of the Flock.

They were each judged individually, from Max all the way to Gazzy. Minos wanted all of them in the Asphodel Fields, but Freddie Mercury and George Washington voted for Elysium, which was throwing Asteria for a major loop. Then Angel, little four-year-old Angel, was brought to the stand, and was immediately sentenced to the Fields of Punishment on the grounds of 3,001,521 counts of indirect murder, six counts of first-degree murder, suicide, and the unsanctioned bending of the free human will.

Of course, the other members of the Flock, since they were still present, vehemently demanded an explanation, while Asteria had a growing seed of dread sprouting in her heart. Angel wouldn't have…couldn't have… _orchestrated_ her death. Right?

Oh, but she did. The judges explained in turns that it was Angel that controlled the guards, it was Angel that controlled the Erasers, and that it was Angel that implanted modified memories into a rat, memories that threw one Asteria Jackson into an unprecedented rage that resulted in the deaths of millions, resulted in hundreds of miles of land being destroyed, and resulted in trillions of dollars in damages, insurance, and relief efforts, and ruined the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Yet, despite the Flock's revulsion, heartbreak, and sense of being stabbed in the back, not one of them was willing to be separated. Not Gazzy, not Nudge, not Iggy, not Fang, and _definitely_ not Max. So, the leader of the Flock did what any true leader would do: she brokered a deal with Minos, Mercury, and Washington.

In exchange for Angel not being sent to the Fields of Punishment, all other Flock members would forego their entitlement to Elysium, and all six would spend eternity in the Asphodel Fields. The judges agreed, and the vision faded.

Asteria fell to her knees. Her heart felt like it was in her throat. Small tears of acid trailed her cheeks, descending to the ground below, causing it to steam and hiss softly. The girl's shoulders shook as the true nature of the Flock's demise was revealed.

That was it. Asteria was broken. Her family, her Flock, taken from her by one of their own, by the youngest and the purest, of all people. It was too much. Living as a psychopathic slave, killing for fun, having the few people she loved ripped out of her life. The unconscious barriers that Asteria had built up to block out the anguish had fallen like Rome, and the culmination of years of torment had finally come to a head.

This was much worse than when she had reunited with her father. When she met Poseidon for the first time, she had the capacity to feel hate, rage, sadness, and hope. Now, she was just…numb. Cold. Unfeeling. Unresponsive. _Dead_.

Like the Flock.

Hades stared down at his niece with chips of black glass for eyes. He was not the most empathic when it came to others; of course, he loved his own children dearly, and wanted them to find happiness in life all fathers, but that was about as far as his love extended.

Right now, his first instinct was deck his comatose niece across the jaw, to screw her head back on correctly with a display of tough love. He restrained himself, using the logic that Asteria was probably having her entire world view turned upside down, and needed some time to adjust. Hades could rationalize being extremely despondent after learning that the little girl you almost viewed as a younger sibling was the mastermind behind so much death and personal emotional anguish.

It was kinda how he felt after he was tricked into being the Lord of the Underworld by his younger brother, Zeus.

However, Hades had learned quickly how to adapt and survive, making the best out of his situation. If the eldest son of Kronos could turn being the King of the Underworld into a profession, then Asteria Jackson could and would move on with her life after this. Call him cold-hearted, but Hades was not an emotional god.

"Asteria," he said shortly. She didn't respond.

The spirits of the dead milled around aimlessly. The Flock was still perched on the trees, but their heads had turned in this direction. Thalia and Annabeth were still unconscious.

"Asteria," Hades said with more force. She was still unresponsive. The God of the Underworld sighed to himself. This was the part where he always got labeled the bad guy.

Hades snapped out his hand, back handing his niece across the face. Asteria rolled, before springing up with a dead expression. No effect.

"Pathetic," Hades drawled. "What would the Flock say if they saw you like this?"

Asteria's jaw slowly unhinged while her eyes slowly widened. Light began to appear in those poisonous green orbs. The light of anger. She grits her teeth, grinding the bones together with almost enough force to crack them. Her tail whipped about in agitation. Her claws flexed.

' _I want them to be placed in Elysium. They've suffered enough in life. Their afterlife shouldn't be as mundane as this.'_

Hades stared at her. "And Angel? Does she deserve to live in paradise? After the things she did to herself-to you? Even if she inadvertently killed millions?"

Asteria met her uncle's gaze. _'I killed those people. I started the fire, I flew the plane, I let my powers loose and created a storm that destroyed cities. Angel's already paid for her transgressions.'_

"And if I refuse to place your friends in Elysium?"

' _Then I'll bring this entire cavern crashing down on top of both of us.'_

"Indeed." Hades' eyes turned pitch-black, and Asteria felt the weight on the trees suddenly disappear. "It is done."

' _Thank you, Uncle.'_

"Get my Helm back, and then you can thank me, Niece."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After waking Thalia and Annabeth up, and apologizing for knocking them out, but not giving them an explanation as to why that happened, the girls travelled to the River Styx. Annabeth raised the question of how they were going to get across, and her inquiry was promptly answered by Asteria letting her wings form, and taking off with a couple of screaming females clutching tightly to her forearms.

After landing on the other side of the black waters, and after giving Thalia and Annabeth time to calm their racing hearts, the girls made their way back the way they came, where they saw Charon waiting for them on his boat. The trip straight up was short and sweet, with the Ferryman commenting that he had never taken someone _out_ of the Underworld before.

Annabeth and Thalia didn't realize it yet, because they were just relieved that they were leaving Hell, but Asteria knew. Centuries from now, perhaps even decades, or just a few years, the story of this quest would go down in the history books on the same pages as Hercules, Perseus, and Theseus. Going into the Underworld, and coming out the same way without invoking the wrath of Hades, despite there being daughters of Zeus and Poseidon on this quest, was a _huge_ deal.

The quest exited the elevator, and all three of them noticed something was off when instead of seeing the bustling streets of Los Angeles, they saw glowing white.

"Uh, what's this?" Thalia asked.

"The final stretch of your quest," Charon answered.

Before any other questions could be asked, Asteria took the hands of her friends, and took off at a brisk pace for the door, ignoring the protests of the other girls. Charon waved at them as they left. Asteria swung her tail, smashing the door open. The light was blinding, but when it faded, shocked looks were abound.

They were on a _beach_ , looked like Santa Monica, and there was someone waiting for them, leaning against a Harley.

"Hey bitches," Ares said casually. "You're supposed to be dead."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, on Olympus_

The Olympians, sans Ares, were all watching what was happening via Hephaestus TV.

In a manner only seen in sitcoms, Zeus, Poseidon and Athena said in perfect unison, "What did he just call my daughter?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, at CHB_

All of the campers had been magically removed from whatever they were doing, and placed in the Amphitheater. They, too, were watching the proceedings at Santa Monica via Hephaestus TV.

The children of Ares had the decency to fidget when they were pinned under the stares of about 80 other people.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Meanwhile, in a dimensional void_

The Fates were watching the mounting confrontation via magic glass ball. They were nervous. This was a critical point in millions of dimensions, and Asteria's fight with Ares would be no less important.

However, this wasn't a dimension in which the God of War was underestimating the child of Poseidon. Ares had fought Aster multiple times, and knew just how strong the girl was. He knew that he would need an ace in the hole, and that ace was currently taking the form of a ski mask in his back pocket.

If Ares put on the Helm of Darkness, Asteria would not strong enough to win, even with the ocean right behind her.

The Fates may have to pull Shin'en into this…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ares. Why am I not surprised?" Thalia snarled.

"Careful, sis. Dad ain't here to save you this time."

Thalia stepped forward, activating her spear and shield, but she was held back by Asteria. Annabeth stood slightly behind them, fingering her dagger. She might not be wearing any underwear, but that wouldn't stop her from fighting.

Slitted eyes regarded the God of War coldly. _'What was your plan, Ares? Give us the Bolt in hopes that Hades would destroy us, sparking another war while you had the Helm of Darkness hidden safely in your possession?'_

Ares chuckled. "Not bad on figuring out I have the Helm, and a war between the gods? Do you have any idea how strong that would make me? The amount of power I would gain…" he trailed off. He sounded uncertain, like he himself didn't believe what he was saying.

Asteria's eyes narrowed. What had Luke done to sway Ares to his side?

' _Who came up with that plan, Ares? You may be the God of War, but tactile thinking was always Athena's forte. So, who told you that you would get power from this theft?'_ Asteria began pacing a circle around her cousin, both looking for an opening, and adding to her intimidation factor. Thalia and Annabeth hung back, an instinct telling them not to move yet.

Ares snarled in rage, his sunglasses beginning to melt. "You dare tell me to my face that I'm not intelligent enough to devise a strategy that would put me on top? Insolent, little wench! I don't need dreams to be smart!"

Asteria paused in her circle-making, eyes narrowed even further. _'Dreams? I never said anything about dreams.'_

Ares flinched, before his face suddenly morphed into one of abject fury. His sunglasses melted instantly, revealing the two balls of flame that were his eyes. With a shout of primal rage, the War God let loose a wave of power. Asteria was sent skidding across the sand, closer to the city, while Thalia and Annabeth were knocked flat on their asses.

Ares charged at Asteria, conjuring up a broadsword of celestial bronze. The girl steeled herself for the battle. Unlike their spars on Olympus, this would be more closely related to a battle to the death, unlike their usual fight-to-seriously-maim.

Ares brought his sword down in a massive overhead arc. Asteria spun out of the way with more grace than a ballet dancer. In her spin, she let tail swing wide, aiming for Ares' feet. She connected, but the God of War used his free hand to perform a one-handed handspring, and landed on his feet, swinging to decapitate.

Asteria ducked, and jabbed with her tail. Ares brought his sword back around, parrying the spike. Trajectory knocked off, Ares used the new opening to run his blade-point right at Asteria's face. She tilted her head to the side, letting the broadsword fly right past her, embedding itself into the sand.

Aster's fist roared forward, shattering Ares' exposed face as if someone fired a cannon pointblank into his nose. The god went sailing through the air, broadsword leaving his grip midflight. Ares impacted the sand hard, right next to his motorcycle.

 _Ichor_ coated Ares' face in a bright sheen of gold. He used a shaking hand to grip the seat of his Harley, and unsteadily stood to his feet. That punch had _hurt_ , dreadfully so, but it took more than that to put down the God of War.

Round One: Asteria!

Round Two: Fight!

This time, Ares used more of his godly power, making his body gain a faint red outline. He charged forward again, his steps causing sand to go flying into the air. Asteria was hardly caught off-guard though, and streaked forward, intent on bowling through her cousin's legs much like a football player.

However, she underestimated the power of Ares, and was, embarrassingly enough, kicked in the face like a soccer ball, and went sliding across the beach, the friction between her and the sand grating uncomfortably across her exoskeleton. She sprang up after a few seconds, and immediately leapt back.

Ares crashed down violently, kicking up a massive amount of sand. Asteria got no rest, as the god was upon her in an instant. He threw a slurry of rage-filled punches, all blocked or parried, but Asteria got overwhelmed, and her wrist was grabbed tightly. She threw a left hook, but it was met more than halfway away by a forearm.

Using the new opening, Ares slammed his forehead against the younger combatant, knocking the girl backward several steps.

The God of War pressed hard his advantage. He sprinted forward, left his feet, and speared the off-kilter daughter of Poseidon in the head with bottom of his combat boots.

Asteria went down roughly, acid spurting from her nose as she went sailing back even further across the beach. When her momentum ended, she was slow to get up, popping her nose back into place as she did so.

Round Two: Ares!

Final Round: Fight!

Ares conjured his summed his broadsword to him, but it was Asteria that launched into combat first this time. She was in front of her cousin in less than three seconds, despite the large distance between them. In a fluid motion almost too fast to comprehend for the normal human eye, she reached behind her back and pulled out her beloved combi stick.

Ares blocked the incoming blade with his own, a loud clang echoing across the strangely deserted beach. Asteria spun around, using the other end of the spear. It was blocked. She did that several more times, twisting her body around to strike at Ares with her combi stick, only for the god to block each strike.

But Ares had been lulled into a pattern, so when he moved his blade to block once more, he was caught way off guard when a black streak appeared in the corner of his eye. He jerked back, saving his skull from being pierced, but he added a new scar to his face. Ares roared, swinging his blade with extreme strength.

Asteria blocked with her combi stick, but she was launched backward. She landed, digging into the sand, and was put on the defensive. Ares was screaming at the top of his divine lungs as he slashed, swiped, swung, and battered away at the twelve-year-old's defense.

Asteria, despite backpedaling, was just barely keeping up with her cousin's ferocious assault. Sparks and clangs rang about, showering the sand. To those watching, it was the most intense display of one-on-one combat they had ever witnessed.

Still, Ares was not invincible, and Asteria had more patience (when she wanted to) than a Tibetan monk.

Ares came down with another overhead, and that was his final offensive move of the bout. Asteria angled her combi stick so that the broadsword clashed in between the spear blade and the base blades, then she whipped her weapon to her left. Sliding her hand down, she twisted apart the Predator's gift, separating it into its two blades.

Holding the detached half in icepick-grip, she spun to her left in a wide arc, keeping Ares' sword caught and exposing his backside.

The God of War howled in pain as he was stabbed through the kidney, through his intestines, through his liver, up higher and almost into his lungs. That combi stick was really long, and really sharp, and Aster had dug it in up to the hilt.

It wasn't over yet though.

Asteria let slip her grip on the sword, letting it fall. Using her now free hand, she jabbed it straight forward. The top half of the combi stick sank to its hilt, piercing Ares' lungs and heart. The god gurgled on his own blood.

Asteria tore out her blades with a squelch and spillage of golden life-fluid. She twirled the two halves around in a display of expert weapons-handling, connecting them and putting them back in place on her dorsal tubes in a single motion. It almost looked practiced.

Final Round: Asteria!

Now she had the Bolt, and Ares was incapacitated with the Helm. Thalia and Annabeth were just now coming back to the land of the conscious, something that Aster was thankful for. Being out like they were meant that they weren't in danger of being hurt in any way.

Asteria reached down, intent on retrieving the ski mask that was the Helm of Darkness. Ares' hand snapped up, instantly crushing the bones in the Princess of Death's wrist, much to her annoyance. With a grunt, the War God threw the smaller being away like she was no more than a ball.

Asteria grunted when she impacted the sand, just feet away from the other girls.

"Asteria!" Annabeth screamed, running to her friend's side. Thalia ran in front, baring her spear and shield against the rising Ares. "Are you okay, Aster?" The daughter of Poseidon looked at Annabeth, taking note of the concern in those grey orbs.

' _Yeah. I'm fine.'_

Ares growled as he stood up. Instead of bantering, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a ski mask. Aster's eyes widened, but before she could broadcast her message, Ares donned the Helm of Darkness.

An explosion of energy erupted from the God of War as his divine energy combined with the magic of the Helm. Shadow and fire shrouded Ares, but his mounting power was felt by even the Olympians all the way in New York.

When the shroud faded, Thalia shrieked excruciatingly loud before collapsing in a trembling heap. Annabeth sucked in sharply, before fainting. Asteria gazed upon the new form of Ares…and felt nothing.

The Helm of Darkness was the embodiment of fear. Gazing upon it brought the deepest, darkest fears of any and all animals straight to the forefront of their minds, and multiplied them exponentially. And that was why the Helm had no effect on Asteria Jackson.

She didn't _have_ fear-she didn't _do_ fear. Her body didn't _allow_ her to be afraid. Her brain didn't produce the _chemicals_ for fear, whether they be emotional, mental or physical fears. She didn't even have the cliché fear of being rejected by her father, her friends, or even by the Flock. So as she stared at Ares, she was able to see what he now looked like.

The God of War looked more like Hades then what should be allowed by the universe. He was covered from head to toe in black armor of intricate design, complete with battle skirt, spiked pauldrons, and spiked forearm plates. His head was covered by a black-plumed helmet that had two sets of horns. Bull-like horns on either side of the plume, and curved ram-like horns facing forward sprouting from the back of the helmet. On the front of the helmet, on the forehead, was a small, demonic skull. From within the helmet's darkness, two red lights shined brightly where Ares' eyes were supposed to be.

Completing the dark look was a black cape that trailed from Ares' shoulders down to the sand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Back on Olympus_

Poseidon was being restrained by the other ten gods.

"I'll kill him! I'll kill that little shit-stain! I'll take that sword of his and split open his stomach and feed him his intestines! I'll rip that fucking helmet off and melt it down and pour the molten remains down his ass and watch as he melts from the inside out! I'll-"

The Sea God would've kept coming up with even more colorful death threats, but watching his daughter take a punch to the jaw that sent her flying into the ocean, and her subsequent wave-attack that had zero effect, made him pause.

Dread sprouted in the worried father's heart. "FATES!"

It was silent for a few moments, before three figures began to fade into existence. Poseidon snarled at the three old ladies, and the rest of the Olympians stared at the daughters of Ananke with distaste, ire, and mistrust. "My daughter is about to get viciously beaten. _DO SOMETHING YOU FUCKING BIDDIES!"_

Everyone winced at the volume.

"We have…a _backup plan_ in place in case Asteria doesn't win," Clotho stated slowly.

"What kind of 'backup plan'?" Poseidon asked through clenched teeth.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Realizing that Ares now far outstripped her in terms of power, Asteria made to pull out the Master Bolt. She never had a chance. Ares was next to her in a synapse-fire, and he upper-cutted her square in the jaw with shockwave-inducing force. Asteria flew high, crashing down into the nearby ocean.

Immediately, she felt the massive rush of power that accompanied getting wet, especially with saltwater. Her gut clenched as she used her hydrokinesis, sending waves the size of houses crashing against the shore. Ares was unaffected.

Realizing her tactic was not very effective, Asteria burst forward, up and out, trying to overwhelm her opponent with the element of surprise. That was a fruitless endeavor as well. Ares' fist came from the side, slamming into Asteria with force double that of a tank round. Aster grunted when she felt her bones crack. She skidded to a halt, looked up, and blanched when she saw Ares' dick was less than five inches away.

The god reached down, grabbing the daughter of Poseidon's head, and lifted her off the ground. Her tail lashed out violently, but each strike bounced harmlessly off of the black armor of Ares. **"Pointless."**

Ares punched her in the stomach, rupturing her acid sacs, sending her flying through the air.

" **I'm as strong as Hercules!"**

Ares sped forward, blurring across the beach, becoming solid again when he was at the end of Asteria's flight path.

" **I'm as fast as Hermes!"**

He punched the girl again, a shockwave flattening the sand. Asteria bounced across the beach, coming to a stop just feet away from the surf. The sky had become covered in black clouds, and the wind had picked up. Ares appeared in front of the kneeling demigoddess, acid leaking profusely from her mouth.

" **And now like Hades, I wield dominion over the dead which allows me to unleash my own worst curse upon you, little girl."** Ares's armor-covered hand lit with fire. Following this, six pillars of flame erupted from the ground. These pillars faded, revealing something that made Asteria's heart shatter into pieces. Even though his face could not be seen, Ares was definitely smirking. **"Recombinant dead, slaughter your sister."**

The wings of the grey-skinned, grey-street-clothed, fiery-eyed Flock snapped out, revealing ash-colored wings, and Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel all zoomed forward, unblinking, unseeing, unfeeling, unthinking…

… _undead_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Well isn't this just bloody brilliant? We have Ares wearing the Helm of Darkness, looking like he does in**_ _ **Injustice: Gods Amon Us**_ _ **, ripping off the Ares from the Wonder Woman animated movie, and bringing back the Flock for an emotional round of brutal fighting.**_

 _ **Asteria now knows of Angel's betrayal. Was her reaction believable? Logical? Heartwarming? I thought it was realistic, personally, but others are entitled to their own opinions.**_

 _ **Now, the important question. I have been**_ _ **dying**_ _ **to crossover**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **and**_ _ **Xenomorphic**_ _ **ever since both stories' conceptions. I figured this would be the perfect place for a crossover, and, considering that the next story I go with will be**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **…what do y'all think of Shin'en coming in for a special guest appearance?**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	24. The Lightning Thief Pt Final

_The Lightning Thief Pt. Final_

 _ **Three stories in one night!? What!? How is this possible!? I'll tell you how: I got impatient and decided to post before Thanksgiving arrived.**_

 _ **This will be the wind-down chapter, the final one in the Lightning Thief arc. I promise this time. I think I said it would be the last chapter three chapters ago, but anyway. Here we'll see the completion of the prophecy, the delivery of the Bolt, the waning days of summer, Annabeth's decision regarding her choice of attire, and Asteria's joining of the Hunters.**_

 _ **Regrettably, this is another talking chapter, much like the**_ _ **Ghoul**_ _ **and**_ _ **Leviathan**_ _ **are, but not every chapter can be ultra-violent. We need some mellow to be mixed in too.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Exactly like the way they arrived, the quest returned to New York via plane, which they boarded with Mist and mind-games, which gave them first class seats. Considering it was only June 19th, Asteria, Thalia, and Annabeth were immensely relieved and relaxed to have a full 48 hours to finish their quest.

The plane ride was filled with conversation, instead of napping this time around, with Asteria relaying her fight with Ares to her friends.

' _The magic of the Helm was too much for the two of you, and you passed out from the fear. I wasn't affected by the Helm because thanks to the mortals, my body doesn't produce the chemicals necessary to produce fear, therefore it was impossible for the Helm to have any effect.'_

Annabeth and Thalia were paying rapt attention, neither one calling into question the physiology of the daughter of Poseidon.

' _After that…it was brutal. Ares' strength after putting on the Helm was boosted ten-fold, and he soundly defeated me. He had too much physical prowess; too fast, too strong. Of course, he had more powers than just increased physical capabilities. Because of the nature of the Helm, Ares had a direct link to the Underworld, and he used that new ability to resurrect the Flock to fight me.'_

Annabeth gasped, knowing just what Asteria meant by 'the Flock.' Thalia was not in the know about the recombinant children, and was therefore confused over the deeper meaning. "Uh…what's the flock?"

"Oh, you don't know, do you?" Annabeth said.

"Know what?"

"About how Asteria…was raised."

Thalia blinked. No, she did not know how her cousin was raised. The daughter of Zeus' face scrunched up. Huh, now that she thought about it, she had never given any thought about how Asteria had grown up. Wow, now she felt like a terrible person. Her cousin's childhood had to be far from pleasant, because people were not born with tails and tubes on their back.

Thalia was about to ask for details, but Asteria waved her off. _'I'll tell you later, but just know that they were really special people to me, like how Annabeth and Luke are special to you.'_

Oh. So, this 'flock' were _those_ kinds of people. Family in all but blood.

' _It was shocking, and hard, having to fight them off, but…it became easier after I got it through my head that they weren't alive anymore, and that they were being tortured by being brought back to this plane. I fought through them, coming upon Ares faster than he expected, and I punched him in the chin. It wasn't enough to knock the Helm off, but it was enough to raise him off the ground. The blow also had the effect of loosening Ares' hold on the Flock._

' _With the hold going slack, their souls could free themselves, without any more of my help. With them now free, the seven of us rushed Ares, intent on beating him into a pulp, but he was still connected to the Underworld. Because of this, all he had to do was think it, and the Flock's souls returned to Elysium. I didn't even have time to say goodbye before they faded away._

' _Ares jumped back into the fight first, but this time I knew what to expect. It was difficult, but I managed to lure Ares over to the ocean. Then it almost became easy. Empowered by the water, I stood on par with the God of War, and since most his strength was coming from the Helm, all I had to do was remove that, and victory was mine. I knocked the Helm off, but Ares flashed away before I could start beating him to death. You both know what happened after that.'_

Annabeth had something akin to stars in her eyes, while Thalia whistled lowly. "Wooooow, and I thought I was a badass. Defeating a god, then defeating him again when he was a power-up…that's just unreal. Give me some."

Thalia held her fist out, and Asteria casually bumped it with her own.

Ares was nothing like the daughter of Poseidon had ever faced before during her time in the School. Not even the Yautja and the Queen were that much of a challenge. Still, despite the mental, emotional, and physical tortures Asteria endured while in that Hell, there was at least one positive thing she felt that she got out of that place: her outstanding fighting and adaptive capability.

But…there was just _something_ nagging at the Princess of Death, like going into the kitchen to find something, and then forgetting why you were in there in the first place. It felt like there was a gap in her memory regarding these events, but everything was there, everything fit.

The phantom pains from the hits she took, the dull aches and pains racking her body, the soreness in her muscles from the strain put on them…all signs of a physically taxing battle…but there was something out of place.

Asteria's gut was burning, and not in the way that doing 1,000 sit-ups felt like, but like she had used a _major_ amount of her divine powers. She hadn't though; she didn't trigger any earthquakes, nor did she summon any semblance of a storm. Her hydrokinesis was limited only to her drawing power from the ocean, not bending the ocean to her will.

It was all so strange…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The plane touched down nice and smooth on the runway, and there weren't any terrorists on board this time around. While Thalia wasn't freaking out, she did have an absolute death grip on her cousin's hand. Asteria was highly amused with the daughter of Zeus' acrophobia.

Getting off the plane was just as easy, and a generous application of Mist and telepathy had the girls out in no time. Since the airport was a hub of people in need of transportation, an entire assembly line's worth of taxis was waiting outside, eager for business. Asteria was more than happy to oblige, and _this_ cab driver did not traffic children for the School.

If the driver cared about a trio of tween girls climbing into his back seat asking to be taken to the Empire State Building, he did not show it. He did get paid though, so that was nice.

Asteria may not have been a master pickpocket, at least when compared to the children of Hermes, but she did have the ability to steal the wallet of some rich snob with a wife and three girlfriends when he was distracted with a phone call.

On an unrelated topic, the cab driver can now put all three of his kids in college and buy his wife that house they were looking at...and move out of the one-bedroom apartment with too much rent. God works in mysterious ways.

Moving on, the girls walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building, and approached the man at the desk.

"600th Floor key, please," Annabeth said.

"There is no 600th floor kid," the man said lazily, not even looking up from his computer.

Asteria just rolled her eyes at the routine, and moved her tail to where it was in front of the man's face. The Mist kept her covered on the security cameras, so it didn't look like she was brandishing a gun, and her telepathy kept the other people in the lobby from making a scene. The man froze when the glistening black blade entered his field of vision, and he followed the appendage all the way back to the girl with skin too black to be natural, eyes that were not human, and a grin filled with translucent teeth that were bared in a mischievous grin.

The man groaned, "Oh, it's _you_." He reached underneath his desk, pulled out a credit-card looking thing, and handed it to the daughter of Poseidon. "Same song and dance: only plug it in when there's no one else in there but you, return it to me on your way out, and try not to break anything."

' _I'll do my best.'_

The girls entered the elevator, Helm already taken back to the Underworld via the Furies, and Master Bolt slung over Aster's shoulder. No one got in with them, of course, so the card was inserted, there was a ding, and up they went. Strangely enough, instead of some insipid song from the 70s, AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" blared from the speakers. Created quite the interesting atmosphere as the girls ascended to the realm of the gods.

With a ding, the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened, revealing Olympus in all its majesty and glory. Despite being here multiple times in the past, Annabeth and Thalia couldn't help but be awed. Asteria just snorted at their expressions, before making her way down the street. She had lived here for six months; the beauty was lost on her.

Walking down the streets of Olympus, Asteria took note of all the minor gods and goddesses, the Muses, and various nymphs and satyrs enjoying their immortal lives. When they took notice of the quest, they did a surprising thing: they bowed. Asteria just raised a brow, but brushed it off. They wanted to bow to her for returning a magic strobe light, that's cool. Annabeth and Thalia looked uncomfortable.

That could also be accredited to the daughter of Athena's lack of underwear, and the slingshot riding up the daughter of Zeus' ass.

That's why Aster didn't wear clothes; didn't have this underwear problem.

The girls reached the massive, golden door to the throne room, and the two that weren't the result of illegal human experimentation gaped at just how casually the one that _was_ the result of illegal human experimentation pushed open the heavy-looking doors. Those things had to weigh several hundred pounds to a good few _tons_ , and Asteria just opened them like your average bathroom stall.

Just how strong was she?

Asteria calmly strolled into the throne room, heedless of the fact that _all_ the Olympians, sans Ares, were present, and stopped at the foot of Poseidon's throne. Thalia and Annabeth practically scurried behind her, clearly intimidated and nervous.

Zeus opened his mouth to initiate the intimidation act...only for Asteria to strike his daughter and granddaughter on the backs of their heads, instantly throwing them both into the realm of Morpheus. They collapsed, only for Asteria to grab them before they could fall to far, and gently let them down.

The Olympians blinked, not sure how to process what they just witnessed.

' _Now that they're out, you can drop this war charade nonsense.'_

Zeus' nostrils flared, eyes bright with anger. "You dare to presume my threats as false, little girl?"

Asteria gave him a flat look. _'Do you want your Bolt back, or not?'_

Athena's chuckle drew attention to herself. "I resend my statement that all children of Uncle Barnacle Beard's heads are filled with seaweed. You figured out the ruse, did you not, Asteria?"

' _Yes. I figured you were smart enough to figure out what the Thief's plan was, and that Zeus was not petty enough to truly blame me for the theft. It only made sense that this entire thing was a plan to draw out the real Thief.'_

Poseidon snorted. "The first things out of my brother's mouth was 'I trust neither you nor your daughter had anything to do with this.'"

Asteria turned a disappointed glare at her uncle, who shifted in his throne. "What? There have been instances in the past where Poseidon tried to subvert me." Zeus' defense was met with an even more disappointed glare.

Asteria just shook her head after a bit, bemoaning the petulantness of her technical King. She reached into the bag behind her, pulled out the cylinder of bronze, and threw it up at Zeus. The cylinder grew exponentially in midair, and the Sky God caught with ease. Thunder boomed and blasted, shaking the throne room. Zeus looked relieved, like he had just finished taking a massive dump.

"I'm off to the forges. My Bolt has been tainted by not being in my hand for too long." Zeus vanished in a flash of lightning. Hera rolled her eyes. "Drama king…"

"So," Apollo said, "did you figure out who the Thief is?"

Asteria shook her head, black tendrils dancing. _'No. I have no doubt that the Thief is a camper, but beyond that, not a clue.'_

Apollo hummed, leaning back in his throne. Asteria had no doubt that the God of _Truth_ knew she was lying, but why he was covering for her was unknown. She didn't care though; she was glad Apollo was staying quiet.

"Very well then," Athena said. In the absence of Zeus, she typically became the one giving the order and making the decisions. "In light of recent events, we shall thank Asteria Jackson, Thalia Grace, and Annabeth Chase for their valiant service and heroism in this endeavor. Ares will be nursed back to health and questioned on his motives and reasons behind his actions. Finally, the war machines will be dismantled, and peace will be returned to the family. If there's nothing else, I call this meeting adjourned."

Athena, Hermes, Hera, and Demeter immediately flashed out.

"Your Veritech is almost ready for test flying," Hephaestus said before vanishing.

Aphrodite blew Aster a kiss, before disappearing in burst of pink smoke.

Dionysus raised his coke can, belching loudly, before he too flashed away, leaving behind the smell of grapes.

Apollo gave Aster a meaningful look, one that told the girl that the god knew of her suspicions, before fading away in a sunbeam. That left Artemis, Poseidon, and Hestia left in the throne room. The Goddess of the Hearth just smiled at her niece, before going back to stroking her flames, but her warm presence was easily felt. Artemis had stayed because Poseidon had informed her six months ago that Asteria had something she wanted to talk about, and now seemed like the perfect opportunity. Poseidon had stayed for reasons that should be obvious.

Asteria bolted into her now-six-feet-even father, doing her best to crush him in a hug. With any normal person, she would've succeeded, but with a god, all she did was cause minor strain on the divine lungs. Poseidon returned the hug, easily avoiding his daughter's dorsal tubes. The Sea God spun around with his child held tight to him. Asteria shrieked in delight.

Off to the side, Artemis smiled warmly at the display of paternal love. If only every father in the world could be like that for their children, then it would be a better place. Hm, the Moon Goddess would have to have a talk with Aphrodite about fatherly love sometime soon. On an unrelated note, Artemis was slightly jealous of Asteria, and the relationship she had with Poseidon.

When was the last time Zeus had spun _her_ around like that?

Artemis wanted to be loved by her dad too!

Poseidon stopped his spinning, setting his baby down. The grin on his face couldn't have been any bigger. "I'm so proud of you! Figuring out Athena's plan, going into the Underworld, coming out alive, fighting Ares, and then fighting him again after he donned the Helm of Darkness! Well done, Daughter, _well done!_ "

This was one of those exceedingly rare moments in Asteria's life. A moment in which she didn't have to be calm, cool, calculating, or collected. This was a moment in which she could be a _girl,_ as in happy, cheerful, bubbly, and just a giggling mess at being with her dad, as opposed to the neutrally-blooded killer that weighed the pros and cons of ending your miserable existence before cutting your head off and not even think twice about after your corpse cooled off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Poseidon eventually returned to Atlantis, disappearing in sea breeze. Hestia melted into the flames as well, leaving the unconscious Thalia and Annabeth on the floor, and Asteria and Artemis to their privacy.

The silver-eyed twelve-year-old stood at an equal height to her cousin, her auburn hair pulled into a high ponytail. Artemis was wearing a black t-shirt, a silver jacket and pants, and a pair of silver tennishoes of no particular brand or style. All made from purely divine power. With her soft features and wide, innocent-looking eyes, Artemis looked like she belonged in elementary school.

"Uncle told me you wanted to talk about something?"

Artemis had a pretty good idea about what her cousin wanted, and she had to say: she was _confused_. It was to her knowledge that Asteria had many friends at Camp, and lived a happy life, and the girl didn't seem like the type to want to escape from the terribleness that was the male gender. So just _why_ would Aster want to live a life of eternal maidenhood in service to her (Artemis)?

' _I wanted to talk you about an…internship, I guess you could say, with your Hunt. Camp is great and all, but it's become boring, in a sense. The reason I say internship is because I don't want to fully commit to something I don't have any experience with.'_

Well, _that_ was something Artemis had never heard before. Never in her 3,000 years of immortal life had someone asked the Moon Goddess to allow them to _intern_ with her maidens. Asteria was asking for a trail run. That was…surprisingly mature for a twelve-year-old, and it was something Artemis would be happy to allow. A chance to get to know her cousin even better, a chance to go hunting with her once again, a chance to be close and build a better bond, and a chance to get Asteria to join the Hunt…yeah. Why not?

But, if Asteria did decide that the Hunt wasn't for her, or her body made it impossible for her to remain a virgin (Athena didn't know what puberty will do to the non-human female; for all they knew, Asteria's hormones would demand that she mate with the nearest male to start a Hive, and that would be a problem) then Artemis would accept that decision either way.

Contrary to popular belief, the Moon Goddess did not force girls to join her Hunt. It was a choice, and it was one she would accept regardless of decision. If a girl wanted a life of romance, family, and children, the Artemis would gladly let her do so. Even that one embarrassing instance, where she was caught bathing by the wayward and lost Siproites and turned him into a girl (why a girl, she had no idea herself), but when she had gotten over the panic and shock she had felt at being 'walked in on,' she had rushed to switch the child's gender back, only for Siproites to refuse, and offer _her_ self in service to the Goddess.

Surprised, Artemis let the new girl in, and she had proven a worthy Huntress…until a stray shot during the American Civil War lodged itself in her brain. That was a bad day for the Union.

Artemis nodded her head with a smile. "Yes. But I would like to add some stipulations, if that is all right."

Asteria cocked her head to the side, silently giving the go-ahead for whatever these stipulations were.

"First, you remain at Camp for the rest of the summer, as well my Huntresses, in order to form a stronger bond. Second, allow for a year of your time to be spent with us, then you can make your decision. Thirdly, and finally, if, at whatever point, you find yourself smitten with another girl, don't be afraid to pursue a relationship."

Instead of blushing, spluttering, or crying out indignantly at basically being told to be gay, Asteria just bobbed her head, accepting the terms that Artemis had laid out.

What? Sexual orientation wasn't something Asteria was deeply concerned/worried/bothered with. There was a variety of reasons for this, and they _all_ had to do with the School. Firstly, the daughter of Poseidon had grown up in isolation, with her biggest role models and relationships being with people that experimented on her or she killed for fun. Secondly, growing up in isolation, she hadn't been exposed to any anti-gay sentiments, nor had she been exposed to straight sentiments. Thirdly, on a fundamental level that was present from the day of her rebirth, she did not consider herself to be human—even now, with all the things that had happened over the course of a year, she didn't think of herself as a human—and therefore considered the issue of sexuality to be beneath her. Fourthly, despite how one could easily argue, Asteria was a transgender girl, having her genitals swapped due to science, but that was also the argument: it wasn't her _choice_ to be turned into a girl **(it was the author's so he could form the base for this entire story)** , and she had been turned into a girl on a _genetic_ level, unlike anybody else on this planet who only took hormone pills and had surgeries. Fifthly, Asteria herself didn't know which way she 'swung,' and was curious to find out which gender she actually preferred; she could like girls, or boys, or both, or neither; Hell, with how fucked up her body was, she might not even be able to _feel_ love on a romantic level, just a hormonally-driven lust and desire for intercourse. Sixthly, and finally, there were _many_ homosexual myths surrounding her extensive family, so her being gay would be equate to zero percent chance of an issue.

It was times like these when Asteria wished she had a wise, experienced, accepting, understanding, and loving female confidant.

It was times like these where Asteria wished she had a mother.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _July 4, 2006_

Much had happened in the month since the quest to save the world had ended.

After the girls returned to Camp (with false memories implanted in the heads of Thalia and Annabeth depicting some quality time with their parents so as not to raise questions), there had been a massive celebration involving food, games, and a bonfire with which burial shrouds were burned.

Annabeth's had been made by her half-siblings. It was a beautiful thing, grey silk embroidered with golden owls symmetrically aligned and mathematically placed, with a single larger golden owl sewn right into the middle (and if one knew where to look and had keen eyes, you would've seen a tiny little embroidery of a pair of panties next to a pull-up). It was almost sad to watch such a stunning creation get turned into ash.

Thalia's shroud had been made by her sisters in the Hunt. It was perhaps just as beautiful as Annabeth's, but since there were a few daughters of Athena in the Hunt, all of them many decades to over two centuries old, their superior sewing skills were to be expected. The shroud was electric blue, with a single, massive, embroidered emblem on the front. In the middle, there was silver lightning bolt and bow crossing over the middle of a silver spear that was pointing straight up. Beneath the weapons was a silver set of deer antlers, realistically crafted. Finally, above the entire ensemble, was a simple embroidered eagle, silver of course, with its wings spread wide. The eagles head was turned toward the right, so only the profile of its head was visible. The eagle had a beautifully-cut piece of tanzanite for an eye. Now _that_ was painful to watch get burned.

Asteria's burial shroud had been made by Clarisse and the Ares cabin…let's just say it wasn't hideous or insulting, but that it's the thought that counts.

Annabeth had made the choice to go back to panties. The infantile attire had been moved out of her dresser, with skirts and dresses replaced with jean shorts and orange t-shirts. However, an interesting thing that Asteria happened to notice when the pull-ups were being replaced with generic cotton whites, is that out of the current 23 training pants that Annabeth had to wear, only 17 were thrown out. Eh, in a family that had a history of incest and bestiality, a single girl having a psychological attraction to pull-ups flew _way_ underneath the weird radar, but if little Annie started using them, then Asteria was brain-blasting the child. Soiling oneself was where Aster drew the line.

The Hunters were not too happy about having to stay at the 'boy-ridden hive of scum and villainy' for three months, but they had adapted. Of course, Asteria's frequent interactions with the immortal girl scouts helped brighten their collective mood. Further, that's not saying _every_ Huntress was displeased about staying at camp. There were a handful that were happy to interact with their half-siblings, even their much-littler brothers. And having a non-Hunter able to push all them over the precipice of defeat was a welcome change in their otherwise never-losing streak against the campers.

Asteria had eventually pulled her friends to the side, telling them about her decision to try out the Hunters for a time. Beckendorf just nodded, wishing her good luck and a safe experience. Travis and Connor were a bit put down, but the sons of Hermes had indomitable spirits, and were back to their usual mischievous grins and gleaming-eyed selves in no time, but they did promise to prank Asteria for her 'heinous and blasphemous betrayal.' Clarisse had been mad that her sparring partner was leaving for gods know how long, but otherwise accepting. Asteria had been nice, and decided to include Annabeth (who had a most curious bulge in her shorts) in the little powwow; the daughter of Athena was flattered and shocked to be included, but she had offered her best wished nonetheless. Thalia had been made aware as well, and she was besides herself with excitement.

It was Selina and Drew that had taken the news with negative reception. Selina was under the impression that the Hunters had sunken their 'grubby little meat hook' into her hybrid friend, convincing Asteria that boys were scum and needed to be destroyed. She had given the Hunters very cold looks ever since. Drew, however, took it the hardest, and Asteria couldn't figure out why. The Japanese daughter of Aphrodite felt betrayed by Asteria, and angry at the Hunters for taking away her 'precious little sister.' She was being irrational, and Asteria had checked for any brain damage (of which there was none), and Drew wasn't ovulating, so her mood and thought process was not hormonally charged.

Drew had avoided Aster ever since that day, and every attempt at reconciliation/trying to figure out what was happening with her, was met with rebuttal and a stony look. Of course, the Princess of Death could have just read her mind to figure out the problem (there _had_ to be a deeper reason), but that would've been an invasion of privacy that Asteria didn't feel so keen on doing like she had in her earlier days. She hadn't even read the minds of Flock on a regular basis, just using telepathic communication.

It was strange, and slightly concerning, but the daughter of Poseidon had faith that whatever had crawled up inside Drew's ass would eventually leave. That had been twelve days ago, and the daughter of Aphrodite's ass was still occupied with a giant stick. Whatever; if Drew wanted to be moody, she could be moody. She didn't dictate Asteria's life, and she would _never_ hold any position or sway of the girl.

An old instinct was resurfacing deep within the hybrid: the instinct of superiority over lesser creatures.

Asteria shook her head, clearing her head of reminisce and memories. Now wasn't the time for brooding or for sulking, now was the time to enjoy the fireworks show! And boy, was it a good one. The children of Hephaestus had outdone themselves this year, with a detailed rendition of George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Battle of the Chesapeake, a contingent of Confederates and Unions opening fire upon another, and the Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima.

For the finale, the Children of the Forge launched a display revisiting the Battle of Santa Monica Beach. Asteria's cheeks were tinged green as she watched 'herself' fight against Ares, and all the people clapping and cheering for her.

Still, as she watched the battle above, Asteria felt that what she was watching was… _wrong_. There was an element missing, and it nagged at the girl's mind like a persistent fly that she couldn't swat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _August 15, 2006_

 _You shall go west and face the god who has turned._ Went to California, fought Ares. Done.

 _You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned._ The Helm and the Bolt. Delivered on time without too much of an issue.

 _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._ That was a very short list of people who qualified as 'friend,' and none of them had betrayed her. Not even Drew with her twisted thong had done anything stupid.

 _You shall fail to save what matters most in the end_. The Flock. Yeah, she had struck Ares hard enough to where his hold was slackened, but it was the avians themselves that broke free from the spell, and besides. Ares had sent them all back to the Underworld, so the Flock hadn't really been 'saved' from anything. Other than unnatural servitude via their own will.

It was that third line that Asteria antsy and cautious. She had yet to be betrayed by any of her friends, and allowing the Stoll brothers to sneak into her cabin to paint everything pink didn't count as betrayal, and today was the last day of summer. The day she would be leaving with the Hunters for a year-long trip. If the prophecy was to hold true (which it would), then today would be the day.

In her cabin, Asteria was loading up everything she would need: her combi stick held safe in the crook of top dorsal tubes, her Desert Eagle strapped to her thigh, and ammo pouch strapped to her other thigh, and that was it. It was morning, and most of the Hunters were far too eager to leave. Some were sad to be leaving their siblings.

Asteria looked around her cabin for the last time, for at least 365 days. She would miss it, yeah, but not that much. It was just a cabin after all. No point in lingering around. With that, the Princess of Death spun on her heel, and made her way for her door. Opening it, she was not surprised to see Clarisse standing there. "Sup, bitch. Since this is the last time I'm supposed to see you for a year, how 'bout you and I go on a last-minute monster-slaughter fest?"

Asteria nodded, a grin splitting her cheeks. The Daughter of War beamed right back, and the two friends sped off into the woods.

The telepath couldn't read Clarisse's mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _An hour later_

Asteria and Clarisse had found a few stray monsters to slay, but nothing truly worthy of praise. They were taking a break now, with Clarisse resting on top of a large boulder, and Asteria laying in front of the rock, her friend's legs falling over her shoulders. They were in some random area of the woods, with the creek a few meters away, just on the other side of the brush. The trees provided a comfortable amount of shade for the summer day, and the area was alive with the sounds of nature.

"Whew. Now that was some top-notch fighting-"

' _You can stop now, Clarisse. Your mind is blocked from me, and Luke is hiding behind that tree.'_

"…so you figured it out," Clarisse said quietly. She leapt off the boulder at the same time Luke emerged from behind the spot in which he was hiding. The two half-bloods stood next to each other, both staring silently at the apex predator. Asteria stood up slowly, keeping a keen eye on her enemies.

' _Why Clarisse?'_

"Change, Asteria. The gods have been in power too long, and look at the state of the world now, and look at yourself. You were captured and tortured because of your father, turned into a freak of nature because mortals can't keep their hands to themselves. Even my own father tried to kill you, and would've gladly killed me if given the chance.

"It's time for a new era. The Olympians overthrew their parents, and the Titans did the same to theirs. Now the cycle begins again with us at the lead. The current gods have become weak and complacent, and that has allowed the world to fall out of order. You know what I've discovered during my life? That government is temporary. If a government is allowed to run the same way it has been for hundreds of years, it becomes old, obsolete, and corrupted. Just like America, just like Olympus. With the help of the Titans, we'll establish a new order, and once those dumbasses have served their purpose, we'll send 'em all back to Tartarus."

Clarisse stood tall and proud after her speech, firm in her beliefs, and unshakable in her conviction. Luke stood silently next to her, watching Asteria very closely and intently. Said girl listened with rapt attention, her face expressionless, her eyes emotionless. Finally, she 'spoke.'

' _And how do you expect to fool my grandfather? He is the Titan King; he will not be so easily fooled by mere demigods, both of which who are not but a fraction of his age, and have even less of his wisdom. And how do you plan on handling the other Titans as well? None of them will go quietly.'_

"That's for me to know," Luke said, speaking for the first time, "and you not to worry about. We will succeed, Asteria, and you can either join us, and dethrone the Olympians, or remain our enemy, in which you will be destroyed at the end of the war."

' _You want me to oppose my own father? The same one who loves me and cares for me?'_ The mental tone was not one of anger, hostility, or threatening, but dull and flat.

"What father leaves his child to be kidnapped and experimented on like an animal? What father can't find their child after the go missing, for eleven years? What kind of father is that inept at protecting their children?" Luke snarled.

' _The kind that does all he can do when he's being restricted by higher powers. I know about you and your relationship with Hermes, Luke, so don't drag Poseidon into this. You have to understand, our parents are bound by laws that were made epochs ago, laws that all deities have to obey, lest they be destroyed.'_

"Yes, I know of the Ancient Laws, and yet there has been at least one instance in every gods' history where they broke the Laws, and nothing happened, other than the heroes completed their quest. And don't get me started on your father. I saw the way he looked at you during the Winter Solstice, his eyes bright with happiness. Poseidon is probably the only god up there that actually cares for his child, all the others were just annoyed at our presence."

' _That's wrong, Luke, and you know it.'_

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter in the end. Clarisse and I have made our decisions, and so have many others in camp. Now it's your turn. Will you stand with us, adding your strength to ours so that we can bring about a new era in the world, or will you side with those whose time grows ever shorter?"

Luke's blue eyes were pleading with Asteria, silently begging her to join him so that they wouldn't be enemies. Why the son of Hermes felt so strongly about the daughter of Poseidon, he himself couldn't say. Sure, Aster was cute, definitely strong, smart, cunning, and fast, and had a history that would've made even the hardest military official become misty-eyed, but just _why_ he had such strong emotions for the hybrid…he just didn't know.

And it _burned_ him on the inside. This confusion over his own feelings was as annoying as it was frustrating, and Asteria felt the exact same way about Luke as he did her. Perhaps the Fates were weaving their threads, or maybe Aphrodite was doing something vexing (again), but her twisting heart was killing her as much as it was infuriating her. But, emotional turmoil would have to be set aside for now.

' _No, Luke. I won't join you.'_

Clarisse looked away, a scowl on her face. Pain cut deeply in those blue eyes, before they hardened with dark resolve. "Very well then. Your side is chosen, and I can only pray to the Fates that you find a meaningful end."

Luke snapped his fingers, and burning circle of flame burst into existence about three feet away from Asteria. Out of the ring, a pitch-black scorpion came scuttling out, crawling over to the daughter of Poseidon. She looked at the arachnid, unimpressed.

"It's not much to someone like you, I'll admit, but a Pit Scorpion is nothing to scoff at. While you deal with it, Clarisse and I will be leaving." Luke pulled a gold necklace out from behind his back. A massive green stone occupied most the pendant. The stone glowed brightly, and the half-bloods were sucked into in a vortex. Before they completely disappeared, all three children of the gods shared in more meaningful look, conveying more with their eyes than words could ever accomplish.

Then Luke and Clarisse were gone.

Asteria's tail shot out, the large barb destroying the Pit Scorpion in a single blow.

The daughter of Poseidon sighed to herself. No doubt all the gods had been watching the exchange, and were now fully aware that Clarisse was a traitor, and that Luke was the Lightning Thief. And no doubt that Zeus would be ordering a massive extermination mission to eradicate the rebel demigods. Asteria sighed to herself again.

Annabeth and Thalia were not going to like this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria's return to the camp was a forlorn one. The entirety of the campers had come to see her off, and all them had long faces. There were even a few _missing_ faces as well. She didn't need to read their minds to know that they had all been informed of recent events, and their reactions were completely justified.

Asteria exited the procession, Zoё, Thalia, and the rest of the Hunt looking at her expectantly and silently. "M'lady hath informed me of thy decision. Are thou ready to depart?"

The telepath nodded once, just a little bit out of it at the moment.

"Wait!" Annabeth came barreling out of the crowd, careening straight into the very surprised Asteria Jackson, who almost fell over from shock. However, she caught herself, spinning on her heels like a pendulum, the daughter of Athena spinning with her, squealing. Asteria got her balance back, planting herself firmly on her feet again, setting Annabeth down.

"You're going to be gone for a year, and I just wanted to say bye," she said a little shyly, then she puffed her chest out. "And you better make it back here in piece, or I swear I'll find a way to beat you even blacker than what you already are!" she said sternly.

Asteria blinked, caught _completely_ flat footed at this turn of events. Then she began to crack up…then chuckle…then she was full-blown laughing, a sound that music to the ears due to the way air was passing through her larynx. She calmed back down, and turned a sly smirk towards the daughter of Athena.

' _My, my, such commanding words for a girl wearing a pull-up.'_

Annabeth huffed, crossing her arms with her chin up and her eyes closed. "So what? They feel good, and it's not like I wear them all the time. And you don't have room to talk, Miss Birthday Suit!"

Asteria rolled her eyes. Then came the peanut gallery.

"Hey!" Travis started.

"We know that you're not leaving-" Connor said.

"-without telling your boyfriends-"

"-goodbye!" the twins finished together, arms around each other's shoulders, broad grins on their faces. Asteria rolled her eyes again, but a smile tugged at her lips.

Drew and Selina came stalking forward, brushing past the daughter of Poseidon and getting right up in the startled Huntress Lieutenant's face.

"You better bring her back to me alive," Selina growled lowly.

"And she better not be sprouting something like 'boys are gross' when she gets back either," Drew said wickedly, "or I will mount your boobs on my wall."

"She's our little sister, and you're lucky we're letting her go away with you for the next year, so you better not fail us," Selina finished. Their pieces said, and satisfied with the scared look on Nightshade's face, the daughter of Aphrodite spun around, marched back to the bewildered hybrid, and crushed the shorter girl in a two-way death hug. They separated, with Drew planting a sisterly kiss on Aster's forehead.

"Remember, you can come back at any time. If they're mean to you, you can kill them in whatever fashion you like, Artemis will just find more. And if anyone of those hussies tries getting into your pants, you let me know and I'll deal with them, alright? Alright." Drew crushed her little sister in another hug, and this time Asteria had enough presence of mind to return.

Tanaka finally pulled that stick from her ass.

The girls separated, both with smiles on their faces. Beckendorf came up, seeing this as his opportunity to say goodbye. "Here," he handed Asteria a thin elastic band, yet thick enough for the dime-sized button on top. "This was delivered to me last night by my dad. He said that your plane was ready, and all you need to do to call it is press that button."

Asteria's grin couldn't get any wider.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Northern Canada_

 _Further location details: Classified_

In the frigid, thick-forested area of the northern most area of the most forgiving country in the world, there lied a specific tree. This tree was just as humungous as its sisters surrounding it for _miles_ , but this tree had very specific purpose. It was an elevator leading down to a subterranean facility.

This facility was merely a branch site for the School, however it was much smaller, being more closely related to an inverted three-story house that was purely a laboratory rather than the monstrous nightmare that was the School. However, this facility did not need to be huge, for it only contained a single experiment within its confines.

The lab was empty, abandoned, almost forgotten, but still active. The machines of the lab kept running, due to its own power generators, and those machines kept the lone experiment alive in its isolation tank. The tank was filled with a glowing green liquid that cast a bright light over the third floor, the bottom most one.

Inside the tank was a creature, a humanoid of six feet with defined muscle, a thick, mottled green and black exoskeleton, a long, spine-like tail ending in spiked club rather than a blade sprouting from its tailbone, twin cancerous-like growths on its forearms that had two visible little blades just barely poking out over the clawed hand, two sets of dorsal tubes on its back, a smaller lower set, and a much larger upper set that curved in such a way that the ends of the tubes were pointed _in front_ of the creature…almost like a pair of shoulder-mounted cannons.

The creature's head was where it got complicated. While it had an easily visible and distinct mouth, complete with closed lips and cheeks, the creature also had a set of _mandibles_ connected to the back of its jawbone. The creature's hair was also something that was difficult to describe with words. For one, the skull was ever so slightly elongated at the back, and the creature didn't have hair in the traditional sense. It had multiple dreadlock-ish appendages, all of them no thicker than a carrot stick, no longer than a foot, and all of them stiff as bone. The dreads were arranged in a manner like that of sea-urchin, with all the dreads angled out of the creature's monstrous face.

With the isolation pod placed at the very back of the third floor, literally embedded into the wall, there was a convenient little data plaque bolted right next to the pod. On this plaque was the knowledge one would need to learn about whatever this monster was.

 _Codename: Subject 3-Beta_

 _Age: 10 years_

 _Gender: Male_

 _Parent DNA: Subject 3, aka Perseus Jackson (genetic clone)_

 _Secondary DNA: unknown extraterrestrial entity (codename: Predalien)_

A beeping sound filled the air, and the liquid in the tank rippled as systems came back online after years of inactiveness. The sedatives and depressents, enough to put out an entire herd of African elephants, began to be filtered out. Seconds later, the clone of Subject 3's eyes snapped open, revealing orbs with the darkest of sclera, with pupiless irides that glowed a deep yellow.

The clone's mandibles twitched, a deep clicking sound reverberating around the lab. His fist snapped out, obliterating the stasis pod, all three inches of bulletproof glass shattering all over the floor, spilling the liquid. The clone dropped to the floor with a heavy thump, his tail twitching about behind him. He looked around, examining his surroundings, moving his body.

His muscles ached from years of misuse, but there was a way to fix that. With a mighty roar, the Predalien hybrid shot straight up, plowing his way through three levels of steel and metal, before bursting out of the ground in a spray of dirt. He landed on his feet, snarling at nothing in particular.

Nature filled the hybrid's senses. The animals, the smells, the temperature, the sights, the tastes, everything. Even the family of campers three miles away. Instincts fired, demanding a specific course of actions to be taken. The clone obeyed the primal programming, speeding off into the direction of the humans.

The Predalien hybrid had a desire...a desire for trophies.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **I do believe this is the second longest chapter I've written for this story. This is also what happens when you don't rush to get a chapter out in two nights. You get a lot of words. I have another fishing tournament this weekend at Lake Fork, so expect**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **'s next installment sometime between Monday and Thanksgiving.**_

 _ **So, Clarisse was the betrayer, Asteria is going to intern with the Hunters, which will be fun, Annabeth chose a 70/30 mix between panties and pull-ups, the Veritech from previous chapters is ready for flying, which will be even more fun, and now we have the introduction of a new OC, whom was created via suggestion from a guest reviewer all the way back in July, when chapter 17 was published.**_

 _ **The clone of Asteria Jackson, this one with the DNA of the infamous Predalien. Will he be foe? Will he be friend? What are his powers? His abilities? Is he even intelligent? Or is he just an unnecessary addition to a fanfic?**_

 _ **Fav! Follow, and Review please!**_


	25. Showcasing

_Showcasing_

 _ **Happy Thanksgiving everyone!**_

 _ **Yes, I know**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **is in the middle of crunch-time, but I'm on Thanksgiving Break, so I have seven days of nothing to do to but write chapters and play games.**_

 _ **This idea struck me like lightning, and I had to get it out ASAP. Subject-3 Beta needs some screen time, and this chapter is entirely dedicated to the man himself. This will be nothing but action and gore, exploring his drive, his morals, and his powers/abilities, which stretch the realism of science-fiction. So, for those who are excited to see Aster interact with the Hunters, I regret to inform you that this is not the chapter for you.**_

 _ **Also, at the end of the chapter, I will ask a very important question that can only be answered via poll. Now that we have that squared away, on to the chapter.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO, AVP…or _Twilight_ (sorry about what's coming, but giant wolves make for some lovely prey)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _August 18, 2006_

 _Southern British Columbia_

The man screamed his lungs out, as if it would magically save him from death. It didn't. It just got his head sliced cleanly off, abruptly cutting off his scream.

The rest of the hunters, a large band of 39, all came sprinting from wherever it was in the surrounding woods they were, rifles up high, dogs barking, and breathing ragged, drawn by the desperate call of their comrade in arms. The reason for these men and older teenage boys to be hunting en masse like this?

Sightings of a demon straight from the bowels of Hell itself…and several headless family members.

There was one group, one that was closest than the rest of the teams, that was hit first. An older man, maybe in his late forties, along with another that looked remarkably similar (brothers, perhaps), and twin boys of maybe nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one, were making a mad dash for where they heard Leeroy yell.

 _Something_ dropped right on top of them, literally. One of the twins was crushed by the thing's massive weight, and panic ensued. Whatever this thing was, it was entirely transparent…like a moving heatwave. The living twin didn't even get to react before there was a hole in ribcage that went all the through his back.

By this time, the father and his brother had registered what was happening, somewhat, and reacted…too slow. The brother's gun was brazened across his chest in mid-aim, when something large and powerful slammed straight through the wood and metal, sending the brother rocketing into the dirt, his bones turned into powder.

The father hadn't even paid attention to that, his mind solely focused on killing the distortion in the air. He fired his trusty weapon, both barrels spitting fire and smoke. The next sound was that of an annoyed clicking, followed by the sound of blades extending, then tearing flesh.

The father's fear-stricken visage would forever remain on his severed head, impaled on the not-quite invisible blades.

The clicking was heard again, and the distortion became wholly visible as the filters along the exoskeleton allowed for the absorption of light-wavelengths once more. Subject-3 Beta was revealed in his six-foot, heavily-muscled, dark-green-and-black exoskeletal glory. The head of his latest trophy impaled on his extended wrist-blade-bones.

Ah, those were quite the ingenious biological creation, the wrist-blades. That cancerous-like growth on each of his forearms served as the sheath, with fourteen inches of ultra-thin, ultra-powerful bone, neatly carved and sharpened, hiding within. The blades were connected to a thick cord of muscle at the back of the sheath, and could be extended and retracted with just a thought…much like the flexing of a muscle.

S-3 Beta clicked once more, his mouth never parting but his mandibles trembling. He removed his newest trophy from his blades, and dropped it right into his own in-built head storage.

That was also quite the novelty. Along with the lower dorsal tubes, the massive, powerful, clubbed tail, and the upper, curved dorsal tubes, there was another added edition the back of S-3 Beta. A series of protruding spines, with the first one sprouting up above the tail, curving upward, and the rest parallel to each other, curved toward the one directly across from it, travelling up along the same path as the dorsal tubes.

With this next head, that made five trophies contained within the neat space that served as his mobile game-sack. The bottom spine kept the five skulls from falling out, and the spines along the sides kept the skulls from tumbling away. And that five skulls had been added, the fifth skull at the top triggered a nerve located at the top of the spinal cord that caused another spine, one like the spine at the bottom, above the tail, to extend forward, sealing all the skulls within an organic, morbid basket.

With his quota for the day now reached, S-3 Beta activated his bio-cloak, the special pores and cells on his exoskeleton bending and contorting light waves to the point that he was invisible from a distance, and a mere distortion at close range. He ascended into the trees, his large bulk doing nothing to impede his agility and grace.

Using his unnatural strength, and the selectively adhesive film on his palms and feet, he bounded from trunk to trunk, silent as an owl coming in for the kill. He sailed over hunters and dogs, none of the beasts ever taking notice of him. Within just a few short minutes, S-3 Beta arrived at his temporary layer: a cave carved into the side a cliff, shielded by foliage and trees.

The cave was deep enough to shrouded in complete darkness, but if you went far enough in, there would be a sudden drop down to a lower chamber, and a quick hike through there would lead to a rather nifty area. A crevice high above allowed a copious amount of sun to shine down upon the cave, and runoff from a nearby stream traveled down along the jagged wall into a small basin that slowly trickled out down the back. Niches carved along the walls were filled with the skulls of humans, moose, deer, rodents, bears, and wolves.

This was where S-3 Beta cleaned and displayed his trophies.

The hybrid rolled his pupiless eyes at the thought of _trophies_. This was fucking ridiculous. Humans? Animals? Easy prey. Too easy. So easy it was sickening. It had only been a few short days since his revitalization, and he had already accumulated 39 skulls, and stored them all inside of this cave. It was nothing to be proud of. These trophies…it was the equivalent of a grown human fighting mere children.

There was no glory to be found in hunting such simple vermin. Still, though, there was such thing as wasted prey, and the hybrid went to work on cleaning his newest decorations. That didn't stop him from entering a disgruntled slumber, however.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beta dreamt for the first time that night.

His mind's eye was currently showing him Earth…from space. Then there was a buzzing sound as three red lines came together to form a blinking triangle that was centered over a part of the planet. Then his eye was propelled forward to the point where that triangle encompassed everything.

Now there was a closer view of the planet. Then the tringle returned, and again, and again, and once more, and each time the mind's eye got closer and closer to the ground. The hybrid's vision had zoomed to the point where he seemed to be about ten feet away from the top of a very specific cliff…with a very familiar crevice on it.

His current lair.

Cue suspicious clicking.

Then his mind's eye was jerked all the way back out to the point where the whole of North America was visible. The triangle buzzed back into place, this time over Northeastern Washington State. Zoom in. Another buzzing triangle, this over the Olympic Peninsula. Zoom in. Then a final buzzing triangle came together over a small part of the Peninsula, zooming in to the point where a road sign could be read.

 _Forks, Washington._

 _Pop. 3688_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The genetic clone of Subject 3 bolted wide-awake, his irises dilating to the point to where they were more comparable to that of pinpricks. That dream was not a regular dream. It was a sign-a message-an _answer! -_ to the problem of a lack of worthy prey. Without a second thought (because there was zero possibility of a dream like that being false), the ten-year-old bolted out of his lair, through the cave, and out onto a nearby tree.

The hybrid paused, thinking about something…then he whirled around on the bark to where his curved dorsal tubes were facing the cave entrance. In the dead of the night, it would be impossible for normal eyes to differentiate between the cliff face and the cave, but Beta had no such issues.

Instead, the tips of his tubes glowed bright blue, before twin discharges of highly compressed, focused, and volatile bio-electricity shot forward. The twin bolts slammed into the back of the cave, exploding with enough force to cause the entire structure to cave in on itself, burying and crushing every single one of Beta's trophies.

It didn't matter though. Those skulls were an embarrassment to his self, his skill, and his power. The sooner those were forgotten, the better. Now, with the past buried, Subject-3 Beta turned his attention South, in the same general direction of this… _Forks_.

The hybrid did not know what he would find, but he knew that the prey there would prove to be a most worthy challenge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _August 18, 2006_

 _Forks, Washington_

 _Outskirts, in the woods_

It was evening in the Cullen Clan household, and the entire family of sentient disco balls was lounging on their many couches, watching a program on the television. Carlisle and Esme were cuddled on one couch, Emmett and Rosalie on another, Jasper and Alice on yet another couch, and Edward opted to lean against the staircase, lost in his thoughts about his girlfriend, and how her birthday was in a month.

Then Alice seized up.

Not an entirely uncommon event, given the vampire's ability of premonition, but it still had the coven leaping up and surrounding her in a swarm of worried near-immortals. Except for Edward. The mind-reader stood frozen at the wall, the images he saw running across his adoptive-sister's mind chilling him straight through his frozen body.

Alice's hand began to move erratically in the air, as if trying to draw something, as she stared at space with an open-mouthed, blank expression. Jasper was quick to fetch pencil and paper, and his mate was even quicker to start drawing. Her hand moved at an impossible pace, the pen creating an image that was soon to be made out as a demon.

"Something's coming," Alice said vacantly. "A hunter…a powerful hunter…his desire for…trophies and sport…insatiable…he's coming…for us…the wolves…and the humans…he's coming…he's coming…" Alice fell unconscious before she could finish reciting her vision.

But her drawing had been completed.

The vampire clan all looked at what Alice had created, and it made them apprehensive, even the uncommonly strong Emmett felt threatened. The demon had a snarling visage, with his body drawn in a way that suggested he was covered in some kind of armor. His head was spiked, and two horns sprouted over his shoulders, facing forward. A large tail, ending with a spiked club, was drawn frozen behind him. From the top of his wrists, twin blades of some sort extended out.

And then there was the position in which the creature had been drawn, as well as the background. The creature stood with legs wide, slightly hunched over, his left arm curled in like he was flexing his bicep, and his right held outward with his tail pointed in the other direction. Impaled on the right blades was…a skull with its spinal column still attached. As for the background, Alice had drawn several tall sticks, all taller than the creature, at least, and adorning each stick was a skull.

There were seven skulls…and seven vampires.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _August 21, 2006_

 _Forks, Washington_

The hybrid clicked in ready anticipation. Three straight days of running, jumping, leaping, and slaughtering anything that moved, and he had arrived. Beta stood upon the side of a mountain, a clearing in the trees serving as his vantage point. Below him was what could only be the small town of his destination.

Asteria's clone clicked once more. His body trembled with excitement. His heart hammered with thrill. His mind was already thinking of traps to set, techniques to use, and whatever kind of prey he would find. Subject-3 Beta faded into near-invisibility as he left for Forks.

Time to begin the hunt.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In an unknown environment such as this, keeping a low profile and staying incognito were key to success. Also a key to victory here, was information. Information about the people, the residents, the history, and the surrounding areas. And that information could be found at the town's chief institution of authority and law.

The police station.

Subject-3 Beta remained hidden in the dense foliage that covered this place. He didn't even need to bend light around him to remain hidden, with his skin matching the trees and brush perfectly, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Now, who was the one in charge here?

The hybrid placed his hand upon the cool earth, closing his eyes in concentration. Slowly, yet surely, the map was made. Using the seismic vibrations of the staffs' footfalls, Beta made a mental map of the small facility…memorized the scents of those inside, police, visitor, prisoner…and picked up snippets of conversation.

Despite being part Xenomorph, Beta was not his original. He did not have Asteria's telepathic ability, because his DNA was not so pure as to allow that power. His Xenomorph genes were diluted when compared to the daughter to Poseidon, but he had strengths the girl did not.

He had greater hunting instincts. He physical strength was greater than Asteria's. His tail was bigger. He had all the abilities of Aster, such as acid blood, spray, imbuing ability, and healing factor, longevity, heightened senses, pheromone-seeing, electro-location and other powers. Powers Beta didn't even know he had.

All irrelevant at the moment though. The hybrid had determined the chief executive of the station to be a man by the name of Charlie Swan. The Predalien hybrid would now lie in wait for however long it took for the man to leave…then he would be stalked to his residence…relieved of his head (and the heads of his family, if any) …and his ID and credentials commandeered for temporary nighttime use for infiltrating the station covertly I order to gain access to public records.

There had to be people that stood out from the others, people that were out of place. These humans would be investigated, and if that proved fruitless, then Beta would move on to Plan B: murder townsfolk, and bring their bodies to the woods, where traps would be set, in the hopes of attracting worthy prey.

The hybrid refused to believe that he had a dream of this town for no reason. There was big game somewhere in the town…and it would be located, hunted, killed, and collected.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Night blanketed the small town, and it was time for Charlie to head home.

Beta watched the proceedings silently from his vantage point in the trees, and followed swiftly after the car. He stuck to the trees, effortlessly bounding from branch to branch, never staying long enough for the wood to collapse under his weight. Eventually, the policeman pulled into a driveway, and the house to which it belonged was saturated with his scent, and the scent of a girl.

Beta remained where he was, hidden in the foliage, and his cloak combining with the zero-light made him impossible to see. After thirty minutes of waiting, silently observing the man's mannerisms from a safe distance, Subject-3 Beta felt confident that the girl would not be arriving, and moved in for the kill…only for the universe to work against him as a vehicle came rolling down the street.

Instead of clicking in annoyance at the sudden intrusion, the hybrid just remained hidden in the trees. The girl that exited the vehicle had a scent matching the female one that covered the house. Swan's daughter, most likely. No matter; she was merely an insect to be disposed of with swift, silent, and lethal intent.

Then the man exited the vehicle. The hunter in the trees immediately locked onto to this man for two reasons. One, the man had no discernable scent, and two, when switching his vision to see in the infrared spectrum of light, the man had no thermal signature. Instead he was blue, purple, and cold. Like the ground.

Now _that_ was interesting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Charlie was no longer needed at this point, so Beta didn't even waste the time in killing the man, or his daughter, Bella. Instead, the hunter followed this Edward boy right to his home, following from a safe distance. The boy wasn't human, that was for sure, so _extreme_ precautionary measure would be taken.

Following from a distance no less than 80 meters, for one. Making as little sound as inhumanly possible for second. And being very aware of all traffic and scents and signatures for third. This Cullen person was no doubt the prey that Beta had come here to hunt, but the conversation he had picked up at the Swan house alluded to more. An entire brood of cold people. Hence the stalking.

If _this_ was indeed the Cullen residence, they did not like to live close to civilization. That was a good sign. If they were indeed something more, then living at such a distance gave credence to a race of intelligent creatures that recognized to advantages of secrecy.

Since Subject-3 Beta could not _smell_ these creatures, he relied on his hearing and his seismic sensing to give him information. Let's see…seven people…four males…three females, all cold…talking about…interesting. They were conversing about the possibility of 'the hunter' being present, and how Edward had felt like he was followed yet saw no signs of pursuit from any direction, nor from any one.

Beta retreated silently, then. Yes, yes, yes, yes, _yes!_ He found them, all of them, all of his prey. He found their den, knew how many they numbered, knew that they had beyond human abilities, and that they were most _definitely_ worthy to be trophies.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _September 17, 2006_

 _Forks, Washington_

S-3 Beta was equal parts annoyed, and giddy. Annoyed because the Cullens had skipped town, fleeing to parts unknown because of a botched birthday party for Bella Swan, and giddy because now Bella had a purpose to serve, and that was as bait.

Edward was infatuated with the human, yet he left her to protect her. Noble, yet stupid. However, his blunder equaled opportunity. Bella was now alone in this world, but she was still closely watched by the 'vampires.' So, by threatening the girl, Edward would come running, and, following him, the rest of the Cullens.

A sound strategy, especially considering all of the psychological profiles the hybrid had made on all of them, after a month of extreme observation. Carlisle was the oldest, the patriarch, with Esme, his mate and wife, being the matriarch. Edward was the unofficial second-in-command after Esme, and had the ability to read minds, yet S-3 Beta's seemed to be shielded from the man, seeing as he had never been found during his stalking. Rosalie and Emmett were mates, with the female desiring for mortality as opposed to immortality, while Emmett was the headstrong muscle of the family. Jasper and Alice were also mates, with the male having the ability to manipulate emotions, and the female having the power to see the future…which was slightly problematic but not so much anymore.

Even if the woman could see any future traps, the hybrid was adaptive. He also didn't believe in such a thing as fate, or that the future was set, he believed in the thrill of the hunt, and the satisfaction of a worthy kill. Which was why he was feeling rather ticked off with the black man with the dreads and his nonsense speech about mercy killing and someone called Victoria.

However, those ramblings yielded much valuable information.

Beta needed Bella, in one form or another, to bring Edward and the Cullens back to Forks so that they could be hunted, and their skulls turned into his trophies. That made Bella _valuable_ to the hunt, and this...Victoria…she was a threat to the hunt, and threats to the hunt would not be tolerated.

And neither would Laurent, another cold one, who was in the middle of trying assassinate the hybrid's chosen choice of bait.

…

Those were some big-ass wolves. Those were some fast, powerful, wolves. Those were wolves that had served to reveal the abilities of Laurent, and perhaps the most basic skillset of all the vampires, and made a good measuring stick for what Beta could expect from the Cullens.

Still though, those wolves were perhaps even more of a threat than Victoria was to the hunt. If those damned canines got a hold of any of the Cullens, and killed them, Beta would _not_ be happy. Best to remove the pack from the equation right now in order to avoid any undue stress in later days.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The five members of the Uley Pack, consisting of Sam Uley, Paul Lahote, Jared Cameron, Embry Call, and Jacob Black, felt rather accomplished with themselves after killing the 'leech with the dreads.' The five wolves made for the clearing to return to the reservation, when _it_ appeared. Whatever it was wasn't visible in the traditional sense, only appearing as a distortion in the air.

It crashed down in the middle of the clearing, sending dirt and dead plants flying, cracking the earth with its force. Two yellow lights flashed near the top of the distortion, and the pack's fight or flight instincts took over like Rome. And Sam Uley was not one for running.

With a snarl befitting that of a cornered beast, the black alpha wolf charged forward, followed closely by the rest of the pack. Sam leapt up, intent on crushing this unseen foe, only for his jaw to be shattered and his skull fractured by a monstrous force that slammed into the left side of his head.

He had been backhanded away.

Paul shared the exact same fate, only he was batted in the other direction.

The distortion hadn't even moved from its position, but it did move when Embry got within ten feet of it. The distortion seemed to shoot forward, slamming into the silvery wolf with enough force to stand him up. Then he was thrown all the way back into the tree limbs, and landed with a heavy thump. He didn't get back up.

Jacob and Jared were the next to try, both zooming in as Embry went flying out. The distortion seemed to spin, and that's when the struggling-to-regenerate Sam noticed the distortion behind the distortion. The apparent tail slammed into Jared's side, sending him careening into Jacob, sending them both sprawling.

Black was just dazed, but Cameron seriously wounded. It looked like his ribs had been caved in, his fur was matted with blood in that same area, and he was wheezing something horrifying. Sam struggled to stand, his head ringing and his jaw extremely sore, but he was healed enough.

But his anger was sent through the roof when the distortion leapt, and crashed down right on top of Paul, shattering his spine and then snapping his neck. Fury boiled through the alpha's veins, and all his injuries were instantly healed to the point of nonexistence. Sam sprinted forward, faster and stronger than before, Jacob right next to him.

Embry and Jared were still down, and Paul was out forever.

Sam was inches away from the distortion, when it dove to the side. Sam, due to his momentum, went sailing past, skidding across the ground. He eventually came to a stop, spinning around just in time for Jacob to come grinding to a halt right next to him…laying limply on his side. Dual, parallel cuts had been dealt to the rust-colored wolf, trailing from his jaw, all the way down to his haunches.

He was dead.

Jared's wounds had finally healed, and he was up and running. Sam thundered in his head to retreat, but that just caused the wolf to stumble in surprise, right in the distortion's presumed grasp. A sickening snap was heard just moments later, and Jared went limp, before he fell lifelessly to the dirt.

This time, primal fear gripped the Uley Pack's leader. His entire pack, killed, within five minutes, and they didn't even know _what_ they were fighting. Sam's flight instinct ripped him apart, and he turned tail to flee, only excruciating pain to erupt from his hind legs…or where they were supposed to be.

Sam desperately tried to crawl away, using only his fore limbs, but an inhuman clicking sound made him freeze. Then something was grabbing his spine and ripping out his skull.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beta roared in triumph at his defeating of the wolves, and the claiming of the alpha's skull. He could track Bella down right now, and it would be easy, but there was a more pressing matter on hand at the moment. Such as what to do with the cadavers. Actually, the answer to that was simple: put 'em on display!

The hybrid put his newest trophy on his back, his spines sliding out to hold it in place, and went to work on fixing the corpses to his desire. Inborn instinct took over, as it always did when it came to cleaning, and Beta relieved the wolves of their pelts, their skins, and most of their internal organs, before fashioning a number of ropes from tree roots, and stringing the wolves up by their feet.

Beta raised them higher, higher, and higher still, to where the displays were above the human's line of sight. Blood dripped freely from the skinless animals, making puddles on the ground below, but it was of little consequence. The hybrid sniffed the air, picking up the scents of the wolves, and began to follow it back to where they came.

If there was more than just one pack, they would all need to be eliminated.

That night, the residents of La Push all mysteriously disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _September 18, 2006_

It was the next day after Beta slaughtered the wolves, and their families, and now he wanted to get rid of this Victoria character before she could present a serious threat to his hunt. It wasn't going to be hard, since the presumed woman was after Bella, and the lack of contact with her compatriot, Laurent, would make her antsy, and sloppy, especially after seeing the corpses of the wolves.

Speaking of, there was supposed to be an expedition into the woods today, led by Chief Swan himself, with the main bulk being civilians with shotguns. That would be interesting, but Beta wasn't going to be there for that. He was going to be using Bella as bait to lure Victoria out.

…

It was pathetically easy to ambush the Swan girl, knock her out, and carry her off into the forest. A simple nick to the shoulder let her blood flow slowly out, and its scent permeate the air. Now it was a waiting game. The Predalien hybrid leapt into the trees, and activated his bio-cloak.

He almost snorted when he felt the vibrations of something light coming in at almost 100 miles per hour. Seconds later, a woman that was blurring suddenly came to a stop, just feet away from the unconscious Bells. Red-head, dressed in white, barefoot, and was just as cold as Laurent and the Cullens.

Victoria.

The hybrid sprung his trap, simply allowing himself to fall to the ground, landed with a heavy thump, and capitalized on the shock the vampiress felt at his arrival, by bashing her legs with his tail, which had the effect of tearing them clean off her body with the sound of breaking ice. Before she could fall, or even scream, Subject-3 Beta was there, grabbing her by the face and slamming her into a tree.

He reared his other arm back, extending the blades, and stabbed her right beneath the voice box. The blades went right through her body with a crack. Then he simultaneously ripped up and down, tearing off Victoria's head with a very loud cracking sound.

Beta gazed at the severed skull in his hand with interest. Instead of blood spurting everywhere, and skin hanging loosely around the base, there was nothing but ice, or at least, something akin to ice. There was a problem here, then. If the skin could not be cleanly removed, and the underlying muscle not easily removed, then turning this into a proper trophy—turning all of the Cullens' heads into proper trophies—would be impossible.

Clicking to himself, the Predalien hybrid turned to look at Bella. The girl was still unconscious, still bleeding slightly, and still useful as a lure for Edward, and by extension, the rest of his family. Also, miles away, Chief Swan and his large hunting party were still stalking among the woods, yet were a great distance away from the hanging wolf carcasses.

Well, the humans made for poor sport, Bella's absence would be discovered eventually, and Cullen should be rearriving here soon. Then there was the head that had to be dealt with.

Beta faded from view.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _September 20, 2006_

Edward sprinted through the trees faster than any human ground vehicle could even approach. His body was fueled by anger, rage, fury, and the volcanic desire for vengeance.

Alice hadn't said it aloud, but the vision in her head was enough. The creature…the hunter…whatever it was, had _killed_ Bella. And Charlie. And the Packs. And the residents of Fork. And the residents of La Push. Everyone. Dead. Slaughtered.

Was the mind-reader running headlong into a trap? Possibly. Did he care? Not at all. If he died, then he'd be with his Bella, and his family would finish what he started. In the end, Edward would win, either directly, or indirectly.

Edward rocketed in from the North, coming from Alaska. It didn't take long to cross the border from Canada into Washington, or from the border to Forks. What did take him long was tracking this monster down.

Forks was eerily silent, with nothing moving. No birds, no dogs, no cars, no people. There weren't any minds available to read, which could mean one of two things: A) every resident of the 3,000+ population had packed up and left town, or B) they were all dead. Edward was inclined to believe the latter.

Still though, the small town was perfectly pristine. There were no signs of a battle, every building was intact, and there wasn't a scuff mark anywhere. Everyone had disappeared. And, as if to add to the dark tone, the sky was blanketed by an ocean of fierce grey.

Edward began his search at the Swan house, and, to his luck and dread, he picked up a trail right off the bat. Said trail being small splatters of Bella's blood leading into the woods. The vampire followed the trail, easily picking the scent of his beloved mate out from the rest of the forest scents. However, the deeper he went, the more…clouded the scent became. Clouded not as in something was blocking his nose, but clouded as in too many scents began filling the area.

Then something wet splashed on Edward's cheek from above.

He wiped it off, noting that it was red and cool. Old blood. Then more splashed on his face, causing him to flinch and step back, using his shirt to wipe it off, instead of drinking it. Looking up, Edward saw something that, if he was still human, would've made his blood freeze in his veins.

Bodies.

 _Skinless_ bodies.

 _Thousands_ of skinless bodies.

Thousands of skinless bodies all hanging by their feet from tree branches.

Human infants, children, adolescents, teens, young adults, full-grown adults, and dogs, cats, gerbils…even the massive lupine bodies of the Packs. _All of Forks had to be strung up here_.

"Edward!" Bella's frantic voice resounded from further into the trees.

"Bella!" Edward said, before delving deeper in.

"Edward! Please help me!"

"Hold on! I'm coming, Bella!"

It didn't take the vampire long to find a clearing in the woods, shadowed by the lack of sunlight. There, his mate sat on her knees, facing away from him. Elation filled Edward, so much in fact, that he failed to realize several key things.

"Help me, Edward, I'm hurt." The Cullen stumbled forward, immensely relieved to find his mate unarmed. "Oh, Edward…"

SHNIKT

SHRAKT

"…how I've missed you."

Edward's diamond-like head rolled to forest floor as his body collapsed in a heap. The imaginary camera that is your mind's eye was suddenly panned away from the distorted figure standing triumphantly over the vampire's decapitated corpse, to the front of Bella Swan.

Her eyes were glazed and rolled into the back of her head. Twigs and leaves were layered in the front of her hair. Her mouth was wide open, flies buzzing around and inside with happiness. Her skin was a pasty grey, an effect that was caused by being dead for a while. Finally, where her torso and navel were supposed to be, was only a massive, bloody hole devoid of ribs and organs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the Cullens arrived after their family member just hours later. They too, followed the blood trail of Bella Swan. They too, had their noses overloaded with the scents of 3,954 assorted corpses. And Jasper was the first to die. His death was swift and easy due to the element of surprise, and his head was severed without issue.

Then the gates of Hell were opened fully on the Olympic Coven.

Alice screamed, leaping at the tall, muscular creature (that had just become visible) and was slammed into a tree, shattering the trunk and sending it toppling, via tail. She wasn't dead, but the damage was severe.

Emmett was next to arrive, Rosalie right next to him. The creature made to slam them into the ground with his palms, but the female spun to the side in a burst of speed, and the taller male intercepted the outstretched limbs with a feral growl. His snarl was met with equal ferocity.

Carlisle darted over to assess Alice, while Esme rushed into the fray. Gravity worked its magic on Rosalie, and she landed in a sitting position on the creature's shoulders, missing those demonic horns sprouting from his back, and wrapped her arms around the creature's chin, ready to rip its head off, but a spiked club slammed into the side of her head, cracking her skull and throwing her off.

The creature adjusted its grip on Emmett's arms, causing his golden eyes to widen, and spun, throwing the vampire into his adopted mother, who was just feet away. They both went flying into a tree, blowing through the trunk and into the one behind it, denting that trunk.

Rosalie was slow to rise, and she would've had her head removed if not for the timely arrival of Carlisle. The Cullen Patriarch, slammed into the creature, sending it skidding across the dirt, and gave chase in a blur, but something happened, something too fast for Rosalie to make sense of, but the end result was another toppled tree, the creature on its feet, and Carlisle's upper body being held aloft by his hair, and his waist-down being held up via ankle.

The creature dropped the halves like sacks of garbage, and advanced on Rosalie. Alice was still trying to regenerate her cracked body, and Esme and Emmett were still over there, either unconscious, dead, or struggling to get untangled. However, Rosalie was ready for battle this time.

She sprang to her feet, leaping into the tree, ignoring the skinned corpses and their rotting blood. She pin-balled around the trunks in a blur, searching for an opening. She eventually found one, and she dove at terminal velocity, aiming for the jugular. Rosalie drastically underestimated the creature's reflexes.

There was a blur of movement, the sound of breaking glass, and the vampiress' head rolled across the dirt, severed by blunt force. Her body slammed down, useless to everything. There was a titanic roar of anguish from Emmett, and he was in front of the creature in an instant.

At 6'5, the vampire towered over the creature, but their muscular builds were mirrored by the other. Emmett's arms became blurs as he whaled on the creature in a relentless torrent of punches. Each blow had enough ferocity to resonate with the cracking of bone, and the physical effect of knocking the creature back a step with each strike.

Emmett roared, before he reared back, and punched a hole _straight through_ the creature's chest. However, he failed to impact any vital organs, not that there were any, and it turns out that molecular acid is super effective against undead flesh. Emmett roared again, but this time in agony as the acid ate his arm away, and the splashes from impact chewed through his chest and face in billows of steam.

As the vampire fell to his knees, and then to his face, Alice and Esme were treated to the sight of the hole in the creature's chest disappearing as the skin cells multiplied and split at a rate only seen in comic books. In seconds, Emmett was mostly gone, and the creature was perfectly fine.

Esme screamed, her despair and anger overwhelming her rational thought, and she charged in. The creature's front-facing horns glowed brightly with blue energy, before twin discharged flew forward. The bolts of energy completely obliterated Esme's arms at the joints, as well as taking an unhealthy amount of matter away from her torso, yet left her neck and head alone.

Shocked, she fell forward, and her skull was torn clean off her body by the blades that sprouted from the growth on the creature's wrist. Only one Culled remaining. Above, the clouds thickened and darkened, robbing the clearing of much of its light.

Self-preservation instincts stormed into Alice's soul, and the injured vampiress tried to desperately crawl away for life. For safety. For survival. Her ankle was grabbed by a large, sticky hand, and she tried feverishly to dig into the dirt, or find a root so as to halt her movement.

Her screams of terror would forever be unheard as the hunter dragged her into the darkness…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **First off, I am terribly sorry for this absence. I meant to have this out much sooner, but things happened that Delayed this chapter. Second off, I am terribly not sorry for any**_ _ **Twilight**_ _ **fans I made angry for killing off 85% of the cast.**_

 _ **I needed a measuring stick for Subject-3 Beta's powers that wasn't Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, mortal, or any other mythology, and I happened to remember that certain shiny fairies just so happened to live nearby, and well, sounded good to me.**_

 _ **Now, I need a name for Beta here, as I have had**_ _ **no**_ _ **idea on what to call him, but Perseus will not be happening. Perseus is the name of the main character, and the main character chose the name of Asteria. I feel that calling Beta Perseus would detract from the centralization that Asteria holds as the main protagonist.**_

 _ **Speaking of protagonist, there is a poll on my profile that deals with this. What will Beta's roll be?**_

 _ **Boyfriend/Mate-in which he is the pairing, duh, right off the bat in the first meeting, due to chemicals, pheromones, hormones, and instincts. He would be protective, territorial, and very violent towards any and all threats to his lover.**_

 _ **Brief Antagonist/Eventual Friend/Companion-in which he would battle Asteria, lose, and primal instinct would make him defer to his 'Queen' as his leader, which I guess could evolve into Boyfriend/Mate status. Or not.**_

 _ **Brother-in which Asteria and he would recognize the other as siblings due to their genetic codes, and that's as far as that relationship would go.**_

 _ **Straight Antagonist-his desire for trophies and worthy prey would single out the gods and half-bloods, especially Asteria, as prime hunting material to satisfy his thirst, and, in classic anime fashion, upon being defeated by his original, would join the Titans on the promise of power and victory.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, Review, and go to the Poll for your opinion to be heard please!**_


	26. The Huntresses

_The Huntresses_

 _ **Well, the pole had been closed for months now, but the winner is still the same. Congratulations to Boyfriend/Mate on your victory over the other competitors. Sorry to those who wanted something else, but the votes were cast and counted, and this was the outcome. Now, with all that being said, do not expect Subject-3 Beta to be getting any more screen time, for…quite a bit, actually.**_

 _ **Speaking of Beta, I have decided on a name. Thank you, Dante Fernandez, for the name 'Cain.' Reading through the numerous reviews from all of you wonderful fans, Cain is the one that I liked the most, therefore Beta's name is now Cain. More on Cain, his genocide of Forks and**_ _ **Twilight**_ _ **was met with generally favorable reviews.**_

 _ **Thanks guys!**_

 _ **Now, onto important information regarding this chapter. As the title suggests, we will be exploring the Hunters of Artemis on a deep level, with a long list of Huntress OCs, all with their own backstories and personalities. A special thanks to Uncle Rick, and his failure to give us a comprehensive list of immortal girls. Now I have the freedom to do whatever I want. That being said, there will be some yuri, but there will be an explanation behind it that goes deeper than smut.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Getting to know the Girls_

 _August 15, 2006_

 _Appalachian Mountains_

In a clearing in the forests surrounding the mountains East of New England, the Hunters of Artemis had made their camp for the evening, the first one since departing from Camp Half-Blood. Tents provided a perimeter, with a series of large logs serving as the girls' seats, seats that were arranged around a blazing fire. Prowling silently around the camp were a few wolves, keeping an eye for any unwanted attention, and silver hawks flew around above, or were perched in the trees.

Asteria sat on a log, Thalia sitting next to her as she was the only Huntress Asteria was-as-of-yet familiar with. The rest of the Huntresses were sitting on the other logs. Now, Asteria had read all of their minds, and she knew who all of them were, and could write detailed biographies over each girls' life, but telling them that she picked apart their thoughts would be rude, and Asteria was hoping for a little bit of acceptance here.

Telling everyone she was a telepath would most likely damage that endeavor.

Through years of training, Asteria picked up certain things as she watched the immortals around her get situated. She could tell who was mortal-born, and who wasn't. She could tell who the godly parent was of almost all of the Huntresses. She could tell who were siblings, and who were nymphs. She could also tell what bond a girl had with another, whether it be friendship, sibling-like, or romantic.

All but one couple present made it obvious that they were in love by holding their girlfriend's hand. The exception was Artemis and Zoё. They had a face to keep up and everything. Asteria knew they were in love because she had read Zoё's unprotected mind back at CHB, and knew that her relationship with Artemis evolved past friends about 80 years after their first meeting, and had continued to stay strong to this day.

"Girls," Artemis said, gaining everyone's attention. "As you're all aware of by now, we have a new member joining us tonight. Please welcome Asteria Jackson, daughter of Poseidon."

The camp was filled with greetings of varying degrees of enthusiasm. Some were bubbly and exuberant, and some were more subdued and laid back, but there wasn't a single frown or negative feeling among the Huntresses. All of them were genuinely happy to have Asteria here.

"Now, she hasn't officially joined the Hunt, because I have not made the offer. Asteria and I have discussed this, and have come to the consensus that she will _intern_ with us for the next year, upon which time she will make a decision regarding her future. I want all of you to show her the kindness and compassion you show all your sisters, however, and I will not tolerate _any_ maltreatment or attempts at forcing Asteria to join us. This is her decision, and no one else's, am I understood?"

There was a chorus of 'yes, milady!' as the Huntresses answered in unison.

Artemis smiled. "Good. Now, seeing as you'll be joining us for the next year, Asteria, I think introductions are in order. I am Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt and Wilderness, Chastity and Womanhood, and of the Moon. I was born 4,600 years ago to Zeus and Leto. I enjoy spending time with my Huntresses, doing a variety of things, and I dislike the state of the modern world. A fact I find interesting about myself, is that, contrary to popular belief, I do not outright despise males. Do not approve of most males, yes, but I don't hate them." Her piece said, Artemis sat back down on her log nodding to the girl to her right.

The girl that stood next had grey eyes and smooth blonde hair, with purple highlights, that fell to the nape of her neck, and an even tan. She looked about 15. "My name is Bethany Austin. I was born 327 years ago, to Terrance Austin and Athena. I like my sisters, architecture, hunting, and my girlfriend," she gestured down to the smiling girl next to her, "and I hate spiders. That's about it, really."

Bethany sat down, and her girlfriend stood up. She had chocolate hair and blue eyes, was more on the pale side, and had distinct lack of godly aura. She looked about 17. "Hi! My name's Amber Jones, and I was born in 1910 to John Jones and Allison Jones. I like my sisters, running through the trees, and seeing what new things the other people in the world are doing. I _love_ my girlfriend, and I dislike child labor, politics, and exhaust emissions."

Amber sat down, and the next girl to the right stood up. She had black hair with white roots, a softer than usual face, and strange, purple eyes. She looked to be about 12. "My name is Lucy, and I was born 4,100 years ago to a man whose name I can't remember, and the Magic Goddess, Hecate. I like experimenting with spells, transforming things, and playing with boys," the way she said that implied that 'playing' meant something more akin to 'torture,' "and I dislike more things than what should be allowed." Lucy was definitely the softest speaking person here, and definitely had some kind of past.

She sat down, and, predictably, the next female to the right stood up. This one looked like she was 14, with bleach-blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and she screamed...wild child. "My name's Joan Jett—" she was whacked on the head by the girl next to her— "kidding; it's actually Joan of Arc—" she was whacked again— "alright, alright...it's Joan Cusack." Once more, she was whacked on the head, much to the amusement of the girls present. Asteria got the feeling that this was a shtick.

Once 'Joan' got her giggles under control, she looked at Asteria with a lucid gaze. "My name is Catherine Fabian. I was born in 1600 to a deadbeat asshole and Aphrodite. I like fighting, innuendos, the female body, and sex. I despise all things male, misogyny, and the glass ceiling. My life's goal is to have sex with every member of the Huntresses! Well, almost all of them."

Asteria blinked. "And how much progress have you made?"

"Still need Thalia, Lady Artemis, Zoë, the one next to me, and you."

"You are _not_ _ever_ going to get your hands into my pants," Thalia sniffed.

Catherine just smiled. "That's what they've all said, Lia."

Asteria had superb peripheral vision, even more so than a bird of prey, so she didn't have to pan her eyes around to see the blushes adorning the girls' faces. And she could read minds. Catherine got around.

The next girl stood up, and she looked like a younger version of Catherine, but her eyes shown with a maturity that the sex-addict did not have. "I'm Joanna Fabian, Cathy's big sister. I joined the Hunters before she did, and allowed her to live a little bit more as a mortal until allowing her to join. Anyway, I like the wilds and the forests, my sisters, hunting, and reading. I dislike my sibling's sexual fantasies, and the fact that she thinks that I'll ever sleep with her."

"Aw, come on, Sissy! A little incest never hurt anybody!"

Joanna sat down with a role of her eyes.

The next girl to stand up was an explosive little tyke that couldn't be any older than nine, with a pink-dyed pixie cut, and bubbling with energy. "HiyaI'mSarahDukesandIwasbornin1890toDerimontDukesandwastheyoungestofeightkidsandamthedaughterofAres! IlikedollsanddressesandmybigsistersandLadyArtemisandeatingandsleepingandIhatepoopingandpeeingandickyboys!"

Asteria just smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Sarah."

The little girl beamed. "Can I be your friend!?"

Asteria's smile never fell. "Of course you can."

Sarah squealed, and had to be pulled down to her log in order to keep the child from leaping across the fire and into Asteria's lap. Sarah rocked back and forth, giggling as if on a sugar high. The girl that pulled her down stood up next. She was tall for a woman, over six feet, and had a serious face, a stern gaze, a muscular build, dark blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. But she had still once had sex with Catherine.

"I am Bertha. Born in 1297. My father was unimportant, and my mother is Athena. I like discussing battle strategies, reviewing battles, learning new fighting techniques, and my little sister, Sarah. I dislike males, and the concept that a man is superior in any way to a woman."

The daughter of Ares, Phoebe, was the next to stand. She had ginger hair, laurel green eyes, an impressively large build for a female, and an amicable grin on her face. "I am Phoebe. I was born 4,582 years ago, to a god that I hate, and a woman whom I loved dearly. I enjoy lifting weight, arm wrestling, hunting, cooking, tending to the wolves, tracking, and healing. I despise males, and everything related to males."

Phoebe sat down, and a girl around the age of 13 stood up, and she had a distinct Southern air about her. "My name's Jess. I was born in 1872 to a couple of mortals, and joined the Hunters after some Indians killed my family and tried to rape me. I like tending to the animals, making food for my sisters, camping in the South, and horses. There aren't a lot of things I really dislike, but I guess rapists would be at the top of the list."

Asteria could tell Jess was an easy-going kind of girl, and didn't hate males in the slightest.

The next girl to stand looked similar to Lucy, only less brooding and more happy-looking. "My name is Naomi. I was born in 1599 to a mortal father that I enjoyed watching die at the hands of bandits, and the Witch Goddess, Hecate." Asteria saw Lucy's eyes flicker up to Naomi, before sliding back down to the fire. "I like hunting and practicing magic, and spending time with my big sister, Lucy. I dislike men and boys, people who think science is better than magic, and lovesick gods."

The next girl to stand was so obviously a daughter of Hermes, Asteria was reminded all too well of Luke and the Stoll brothers. "My name is Celyn Kyrie, and I was born in 1755 to Hermes and Jane Kyrie. I like hunting, running through the trees, books, pickpocketing, and my wolf. I dislike the British, the Union Jack, tea, the color red, kings, and governments."

Asteria got the feeling that Celyn grew up in a patriotic household.

The next girl to introduce herself was another young-looking child, much like Lucy and Sarah, and was just as energetic as the little pinkette, but this one was probably ten and had blonde hair with blue tips, and was wearing glasses. "It's nice to meet you, Aster! My name's Victoria Stewart and I was born in 1983 to Apollo and Wendy Stewart! I like relaxing in a hot bathtub, massages, spa days with my sisters, and anime! I dislike poor voice-acting and cheap animation and bad plots."

Asteria knew all of this about the girl ( _all_ of the girls, actually), but she still blinked in surprise to keep up the illusion of everything being a big reveal. But still, an otaku Huntress? _That_ was different.

Victoria sat back down, and another girl stood up. Black hair, green eyes, and pale skin, this girl looked to be in her mid-teens. "I am Atalanta Tupp. I was born in in 1459 to Demeter and Charles Tupp. I like a lot of things, like my girlfriend, and having sex with my girlfriend, and hunting. I hate boys, men, and just about everything that has a penis."

The next girl was Atalanta's girlfriend. She was taller than her sexual partner, with a deeper tan, bigger eyes, blonde hair, and a much more cheery disposition. Asteria could see how those two girls had found love for each other.

"My name is Esther Holland, and I was born in 1457 to Apollo and Mary Holland. I love Atalanta and roleplaying with her, and being with my sisters. I hate having diarrhea and my period at the same time."

Asteria could tell just how comfortable the Huntresses were with each other, because not even Thalia had any sort of reaction to what Esther and Atalanta liked/disliked.

The next girl to stand was stern and prideful looking, with her smooth black hair being pulled tight into a ponytail, her narrow, angular face, and her sharp nose. "I am Octavia of the Longsword. I was born to a mortal general of the Roman legion, and the god Ares. I love the thrill of battle, and the feeling of my blade gliding through my opponent's flesh. I despise all things male, and burying my sisters."

The next girl to stand up looked like she was 16 and stoned, with her lazy smile, half-lidded eyes, and slow movements. Hell, she even _looked_ like she was from the era of the hippies, with her stringy hair, large, purple-tinted glasses, and psychedelically-colored headband. "Man," the girl slurred, "my name is Katie Price, and I was born in 1950 to Dionysus and Audrey Price. I like booze, coke, weed, heroin, and smoking. I hate being sober, hungover, and not high…and anal. I don't like shit being up my ass that isn't my shit. I blame Cathy for that."

"You said you wanted to try it!" the sex-addict snapped.

"You're going to listen to a stoned, high, drunk girl? If I told you to hop into a volcano, would you do it?" Katie slurred.

"Maybe, if we just had sex."

"Whatever, man."

"I'm not a man!"

"Preach love, not war, man."

Cathy's eye twitched at being referred to as a man yet again, and made to get up and start something, but she was pulled down by her sister, Joanna, who was scowling. Joanna promptly wacked Cathy upside the head. Katie also sat down, and another girl stood up. Asteria was reminded of Beckendorf.

This girl was tall and burly, with skin that was soot-stained and tanned by intense heat. Over her Huntress uniform, she wore a heavy, grease-stained leather apron. Her eyes were green, and her black hair was pulled into a sloppy bun, but was kept out of her face by a silver bandana with black stitching. "My name's Roberta Sawyer, and I was born in 1920 to my mother, Eda Sawyer, and my father, Hephaestus. I love working on things, building things, and using my things to hunt. I hate it when one of my things gets broken or doesn't work properly."

The girl sitting to the left of Asteria stood up next, and after this one, only Thalia and Zoё remained to be introduced. This girl was like Lucy and Sarah in that she was short and youthful, but she went overboard with it…in that she wasn't any older than _five._ She was also clutching a teddy bear, and was sucking on her thumb. "My name's Amelia Holt, and I was born in 1859. My Mommy was normal, and I don't remember who my Daddy was. My big brothers fought for the Grey People, but I don't know what happened to them, but my Mommy was killed by the Blue People when they broke into our house. I love my family and Lady Artemis…and I hate bedtimes."

Little Amelia said that last part after she finished yawning and rubbing her right eye. The girl plopped back down on her log, and promptly flopped over, resting her head upon Roberta's lap, eyes drooping closed. Asteria looked at the little girl. Amelia was traumatized, obviously, and had been for the past 150 years, but nothing Artemis, Apollo, or any god/dess for that matter, could heal the poor thing, so her mind was left in its fractured, toddler-like state.

The sudden somber mood was brightened slightly when Thalia stood up, drawing attention back to her and away from Amelia. "I'm Thalia Grace, and I was born on December 22, 1988 to Beryl Grace and Zeus. I like rock music, my spear, my shield, Annabeth, electricity, and in-door plumbing. I don't like stupid people, being used, and killing other people."

Thalia sat down, and Zoё, the last Huntress to be introduced, stood up.

"I am Zoё Nightshade, Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. I was born over 4,000 years ago, to the Titan Atlas, and the goddess, Pleione." Zoё stared at Asteria, as if challenging the younger girl to say something. The daughter of Poseidon didn't, of course, because she already knew Zoё's parentage. She had known since the Huntresses first entered her mental range, and it didn't bother her then, and it certainly didn't bother her now. Artemis wouldn't be regularly sleeping with the Hesperide is she was a traitor, after all.

Seeing that Asteria wasn't going to react beyond a simple rapt look, Zoё continued with her introduction. "I like milady, my sisters, hunting, teaching new recruits, and beating Camp Half-Blood in a game of Capture the Flag. I abhor men and boys, my father, watching maidens go astray, and having to burry my sisters."

Zoё finished, sat back down, and Artemis stood up, a warm smile adorning her features. "Well done, girls, well done. Tomorrow we start heading South for the opening of the migratory bird season, and I want to be there with enough time to scout the area before September 1, so everyone off to bed. You too, Asteria. You may be a guest here, but don't expect me to allow you to slack off."

Aster just grinned, and headed for her own personal tent. Most of the Hunters had their own tents, but those in a relationship were allowed to share a tent. When Asteria entered her tent, she immediately recognized the magic, because this place was not this big on the outside.

The interior was probably 45 feet deep, 15 feet across, and 10 feet high. Everything was bathed in the soft, warm glow of the fire burning in the fireplace at the far end of the tent. On the tent wall to the right of the fire was a queen-sized bed with a polished wood frame, and to the left of the fireplace was a full dresser. At the foot of the bed was a comfortable-looking couch, and across from that, next to the dresser, was a television set complete with gaming consoles, media players, and a few games and movies. The rest of the space between the couch/TV and the entrance was occupied by racks of various weapons from all eras and locations from around the world. Covering the entire floor of the tent was a massive fur rug that felt really good to the hybrid's feet.

Asteria nodded her head. While she expected something a lot more Spartan, the accommodations were not being whined about. The daughter of Poseidon walked across her tent, and promptly flopped down on the bed, bouncing a little. Yep; definitely comfy.

Asteria laid there for a bit, before she registered a smell. A smell similar to Annabeth's pull-ups. Rolling her eyes in annoyance at what was probably a prank, Aster slid off her new bed, and walked over to the dresser, pulling open the drawer from which the sweet smell odor was coming from. Laying on top of the generic sets of panties was a single diaper with a sticky note on it.

 _To Asteria_

 _Since you're just joining us, that makes you the new baby of the family! Welcome to the Hunt, baby! XOXOXOXO_

 _-Cathy, your future sex partner_

 _P.S. this is a joke, I did the same to Thalia. You don't have to put it on._

 _P.S.S. please don't kill me_

Asteria rolled her eyes with a small smile at the light-heartedness of the joke, and at the personality of her 'future sex partner.' Meh, the girl was cute, and she did know a lot about sex from her literal _centuries_ of doing it, so maybe, if Aster had an itch, she _might_ go to Catherine for some help. It was a big maybe.

Throwing the diaper into the fire, watching it burn up instantly, Asteria laid back down with a smile.

Yeah. She was going to like it here.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Okay, in the same manner as**_ _ **Green-Eyed Ghoul**_ _ **, what was supposed to be one big chapter is going to be split apart into two chapters, so yippy for you guys.**_

 _ **This chapter built up the roster for my version of the Hunters of Artemis, and next chapter is going to be nothing but pure bonding time and backstory, all of which will be covered in a collection of one-shots featuring Asteria and a single Huntress, or a small group of Huntresses.**_

 _ **So, let me know about what you thought of all the OCs I just introduced, and whether they have potential to be good characters or if I just wasted your time and my time. Oh, and if yuri is not your thing, then ignore it. Like I said up top, there will be actual reasons for the Hunters engaging in a sexual relationship, and it is not for something to get hard/wet about, and masturbate to.**_

 _ **Explanations, exposition, and character development next chapter.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	27. The Huntresses Pt 2

_The Huntresses Pt. 2_

 _ **So, uh, right then. We're almost at 400 reviews. Fuck yeah!**_

 _ **Like I said last chapter, this one will be a collection of one-shots that detail the backstories of the Huntresses, and the relationship Asteria has with each one. We'll be moving fast this chapter, with each one-shot taking place days to weeks after the previous. My goal is to write this chapter, with the closing of it being ripe for the transition to the**_ _ **Sea of Monsters**_ _ **.**_

 _ **So buckle up, because we are going for a ride.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Sisterly Spar_

 _August 16, 2006_

Asteria's synapses practically exploded inside her head as her internal clock rang loud and true. The daughter of Poseidon did her equivalent to a yawn (a soft, screeching, metal-on-metal-like sound), arching her back, getting out the kinks, while holding her arm over her head and gripping the elbow with her other arm.

The magical fire was no longer burning.

Asteria slid off her bed, having never actually getting under the covers, but still straightened out the sheets to where the bed looked nice and tidy. Nodding to herself at her handiwork, Asteria made her way for the exit, completely ignoring her dresser. She had been her usual naked self last night, to no comment or concern, and she had the highest faith that those feelings would continue into the day, as well.

Despite the magic of the tent, Asteria's sensory abilities were not cut-off from her, so when she brushed past the flap and out into the camp, she was not surprised to see some of the girls already up and about, their tents packed neatly into…rolls. Like sleeping bags. Whatever; magic was weird.

Jess, the Southerner, was already cooking breakfast, which smelled like bacon and eggs, while Bethany and Amber chatted by a tree, Joanna was doing Sarah's hair, putting it into pigtails, Zoё and Phoebe were arm wrestling, and Octavia was polishing her namesake.

'Longsword' was not an exaggeration. It was a simple bastard sword, with a ball for a pommel, a two-handed, leather-wrapped grip, a spindly cross guard, and a long, thin blade made of celestial bronze. It was a strange weapon to be used by a female, for sure, especially one born during the time of the Roman empire, where the most common sword was the gladius. It was also a most-definite weapon of masculinity, ironic for a Huntress that 'despised all things male.'

The rest of the Hunters were either still sleeping, or were doing one thing or another inside of their tent. Strange; Asteria could not detect anything happening within the tents…most likely due to magic, but the demigoddess found that to be more of a boon than a hindrance. Seriously, knowing what everyone was doing at _every_ moment of the day sucked.

Knowing when someone was pooping in the toilet or fucking behind a tree was not something Asteria particularly enjoyed, despite dealing with _much worse_ in the School.

The daughter of Poseidon was broken from her little reverie by the sound of cracking stone. Phoebe was clutching her hand, smirking in a pained way, while Zoё was smirking. The rock they had been using as their platform was broken, with pieces of the mineral laying strewn about the ground. Clearly, Zoё was the winner of the contest, and the physically superior of the two girls.

Sensing eyes on her, the Lieutenant turned to see Asteria staring at her and Phoebe. An idea sprung into the Huntress' mind. "Would thou like to arm wrestle me?"

Initially cocking a brow at the apparent lack of knowledge Zoё had on her physical capabilities, Aster was hesitant to break the older girl's hand, but then she shrugged with a what-the-Hell kind of attitude, and trotted her way over. Now, the attention of those awake were focused on Asteria and Zoё as the bent elbows and clasped hands.

"On my mark," Zoё said, a smile on her face. "One…two…three-go!"

Now, knowing that the girl before her was a daughter of Atlas, a daughter Pleione, the Lieutenant of Artemis, a Huntress, had been alive for thousands of years, and an extremely large amount of essence, Asteria fully expected somewhat of a challenge when facing Zoё Nightshade in a contest of strength.

The daughter of Poseidon was disappointed.

Zoё couldn't even make her arm twitch, and the Huntress was beginning to get red in the face. Deciding to end this now, Asteria calmly moved her arm down, easily overpowering Nightshade, and forcing the back of her palm to touch to the cool rock. She let go of Zoё's hand with a small smile.

The Huntress gripped her fist, rolling her hand around a few times. The other girls were all clapping and whistling at the little contest between their Lieutenant and the new girl.

Zoё leveled a gaze at Asteria, and the hybrid was suddenly on guard for a hostile confrontation. Even with Artemis present, Asteria was not confident that a several millennia-old Huntress with an ego and pride the size of Texas would not engage in a confrontation due to a minor defeat.

"Not bad. Even Lady Artemis and Thalia struggle in arm wrestling me. But…how good are you in a fight?"

"I beat the God of War…twice…even when he had the Helm of Darkness…by myself. Does that count as being good in a fight?"

"…fair point. I still wish to spar with thee, however."

Asteria just shrugged. By now, all but Catherine, Amelia, and Roberta were up and moving, and all of the immortal teens were forming a half-circle around the area in which Zoё and Aster would be dueling. Excitement and intrigue were the most common feelings in the small crowd, but there were a few outliers. Lucy was watching the ensuing conflict with a dull, bored gaze, and Artemis was unreadable. Thalia was just shaking her head, confident in her cousin's prowess.

Standing apart from the other in the wide-open space, Zoё drew a pair of the classic hunting knives the Hunters were famed for, from somewhere behind her. Asteria reached behind her, and removed her combi stick from its place. Recognition flashed in Zoё's eyes.

"That's the spear the Yautja Elder."

"Yep. Gave it to me after the Antarctica hunt went pear-shaped, as a gift."

"But thou have a tail."

"And a combi stick. And a gun. And claws. And a really strong jaw. Still wanna fight me?"

"Absolutely."

In a blur of motion, Asteria was in front of Zoё, and the elder Huntress was quick to start using her knives to block and parry the rapid swarm of coordinated and high skilled attacks brought forth by the dual ends of her junior's weapon. Zoё rapidly backpedaled, being put through a lightning-fast anaerobic exercise that she only experienced when sparring with Artemis.

Not even Octavia or Bertha or Phoebe or Thalia could put bring Zoё to this level of strain. It brought a rare, savage grin to the daughter of Atlas' face. A grin that only came about in the face of an excellent challenge.

Suddenly, Zoё lashed out with impeccable speed, catching Asteria off guard at the sudden change in combat, but even surprised as she was, the hybrid's reflexes were beyond top-notch. Aster knocked aside a knife with her spear, and caught the wrist of the hand holding the other knife, stopping the blade just millimeters away from her eye. Zoё was taller than she was.

However, that free hand was still a factor, and it came zooming in with lethal intent. Asteria could've used her tail for a number of things, and could've lethally ended this spar in a number of ways prior to the first ringing of metal. Here, she could've used her tail to block the incoming knife, remove Zoё's arm, or even kill the Huntress (and it would've been easy, too), but the daughter of Poseidon instead opted for using her extreme physical strength, to hurl Zoё over her head and through the air, just by using the knife-holding wrist in her grasp.

Nightshade sailed through the air, landing on her feet and smoothly transitioning into a roll, instantly popping up into a standing position, knives brandished in front of her, ready for an attack. No one was there.

Zoё was too slow to get back up after her legs were knocked out from under her by a seemingly invisible force, and the blade of a spear was literally about to pierce her throat. Panning her eyes up, Zoё scowled lightly at the grinning face of one Asteria Jackson, before she herself broke into a smile.

"Excellent fight. I look forward to hunting with you."

Zoё offered her hand, and Asteria was quick to grasp it, and haul the elder Huntress to her feet…only for her to flip the sea princess over her shoulder, drop her knees on top of her torso, and level her knives at the smaller girl's throat. A round of laughter came from the gathered girls, but Zoё felt that it was not for her sudden table-turning upon Little Aster.

Then something tapped Zoё on the shoulder.

Slowly turning her head, the Huntress paled slightly upon seeing the gleaming tip of a shiny, ebony tail just inches from her eye ball, poised and ready to strike a lethal blow via Zoё's optical cavity. The corners of Nightshade's mouth folded down, but not in as a frown, but more of an impressed expression.

Kind of like the Not Bad Obama face.

Conceding defeat, for real this time, Zoё slowly got off the girl she had pinned, being careful to avoid the gleaming tail that followed her movements like a threatened viper. When she was fully off, Aster got up, offering her hand. Zoё took it, and the two girls gave each other a firm handshake as a sign of respect.

The Huntresses clapped and cheered.

Lucy just looked on in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Getting to know Asteria_

 _Same day, evening_

"You thought I was _born_ like this?" the daughter of Poseidon 'asked.' "You didn't ask around camp while Thalia, Annabeth and I were on the quest as to why I had a tail?"

There were mixed reactions, ranging from sheepishness to stone-faced silence, but it was Zoё that answered. "We thought it a breach of privacy to ask others about your appearance…and most of us thought Poseidon had bedded some form of nymph." Nightshade coughed into her fist after her spiel.

Asteria panned her slit-eyed gaze to Artemis, who just shrugged. The Princess of Death sighed. This was going to be one long conversation.

"You ever wondered what would happen if mortal science ever met with demigod physiology?"

"Not really, but it sounds kinky," Cathy said.

"Not at all, man," Katie slurred.

"Nope," said Jess.

"It's intrigued me, but never held my interest for long," Bertha answered.

There were a variety of different answers, but all of them held the same baseline of 'no.' Asteria couldn't help but feel that the girls before her _really_ needed to broaden their horizons. Undeterred by the lack of interest in what she considered to be something interesting/horrifying, Asteria forged on with the tail of her rebirth.

"By means of which I still cannot comprehend, a group of mortals managed to synthesize the DNA of the alien that the Yautja hunt as a rite of passage. In other words, mortals remade the genetic code of Linguafoeda acheronsis…the Xenomorph. Then they spliced my own DNA with it. Hurt like a mother, but I guess I got some cool benefits out of it."

Subconsciously, the eyes of all but two Huntresses were drawn to the tail waving slowly behind Asteria. The hybrid closed her eyes with a smirk on her face as the natural hypnotism of her tail's slow movement put the onlookers under her spell. The two Huntresses not hypnotized were Amelia (because she was asleep while sitting up, teddy bear in one arm, opposite thumb in her mouth), and Lucy (because she was staring intently at the fire, making it writhe and dance in different patterns).

Artemis snorted at the spellbound looks on her surrogate daughters' faces, recognizing just how easily (and how many ways) Asteria could kill them all right now. The Moon Goddess snapped her fingers, and her daughters were instantly freed from the trance.

Katie was the first to recover. "Godsdammit, man. That was one _groovy_ trip…do it again!"

" _No, Katie_ ," Artemis said. "There will be no more trips tonight until after bedtime."

Katie's shoulders slumped.

"Serves ya right, damned stoner," Cathy snarked. Katie gave her the bird in response. Cathy just grinned, "Any time, stoner, any time."

"Moving on," Joanna cut in. "That explains why you look so cool, but not your ability to fight. Antarctica, Santa Monica, this morning…that level of skill goes beyond simple instinct, and what Chiron teaches. So, how'd you get so good?"

Asteria blinked. "You people really don't know much of anything about me, do you?"

"Yeahbutthat'swhywe'reallhererightnowsowecangettoknowyoubetter!" Sarah said.

After deciphering the motor-mouth (one far speedier than Nudge), Asteria conceded. "Fair point. Well, buckle in girls…you're in for helluva story."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Later that evening_

Asteria put up her tent all by herself, and after Artemis had called bedtime, the Huntresses dispersed, but all of them (at least the ones that had been listening to the story) had a lot to process and think about tonight. However, upon entering her own tent, Asteria's eye twitched at seeing her bed had somehow been replaced with an oversized crib.

An easy fix, really. The hybrid just grabbed one of the posts, lifted the entire contraption off the ground like it weighed no more than a brick, and marched out of her tent. The fire had been doused, and everyone was inside their personal abodes, so no one saw Aster carrying a large crib to Cathy's tent.

Barging in without so much as knocking, and ignoring the panicked Catherine (who was fingering herself), Asteria set the crib down, and brain-blasted the sex-addicted daughter of Aphrodite into unconsciousness. Then she picked Cathy's body up and dropped her into the crib like a piece of garbage.

Asteria was about to leave…when an idea popped into her head.

Drawing the surrounding water into a space above her hand, Asteria made a decent-sized orb of liquid…then she began to hydrokinetically heat it up to shower temperature. Not hot enough to burn, but hot enough to be felt. Asteria moved the warm ball around the tent until it engulfed Cathy's hand.

Seconds later, a soft hissing was heard as a new scent entered the air.

Mentally cackling like a loon, the daughter of Poseidon let her water ball disperse back into invisible water droplets, and slid out of the daughter of Aphrodite's tent like an assassin that had just completed their job. Wanna sneak diapers into Asteria's drawer? Okay. Wanna poke fun about how she's the youngest, and technically the baby? Fine.

Just know that you're signing an agreement that allows for yourself to be pranked in return.

The next morning, Cathy would awake to find herself in the same crib she had placed in Asteria's tent…covered in her own pee. Instead of freaking out or throwing a tantrum, the sex-addict just blinked in surprise…before grinning madly.

Finally! Someone who could take a joke!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Birthday with Dad_

 _August 18, 2006_

The entirety of yesterday was spent heading South for Texas so that the Hunt could make it in time for the opening of Dove Season, so not many memorable things happened other than Asteria making small talk with the Huntresses, feeling them out and psychoanalyzing them.

Details on that later, because Asteria felt the presence of someone that brought a true, genuinely happy smile to her face.

The daughter of Poseidon came barreling out of her tent faster than a horse out of the starting gate, and she plowed her father over like an NFL linebacker going in for the kill of a defenseless tackling dummy. Most of the Hunters were still sleeping, seeing as it wasn't even five in the morning yet, but Lucy was awake. The 12-year-old-looking girl watched the display of affection with a passive gaze.

Poseidon gave a hearty laugh as his little girl gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "I take it you're happy to see me?"

' _Of course I am! But why are you here?'_

"Well, what kind of father would I be if I didn't show up for my baby's birthday?"

At the end of that sentence, Asteria's world came grinding to a halt as she processed those words. Her birthday was not something that held any real meaning or value to her, because she grew up in the School. One did not celebrate their birthday in the School, and Asteria had been too much of a hardass to even give a fuck about 'just another day of the year.'

But to hear her father say that, to hear those words come from his mouth; for Poseidon to be here in person to spend time with her on this day...maybe it was a girl thing, or maybe she was PMSing, but Asteria broke down into tears.

Upon seeing the green start spilling from his baby's eyes, Poseidon immediately went into Daddy Mode. He pulled Asteria close, already whispering soothing words. He didn't know why his child was crying, but he didn't care. He just knew it was his job as a father to be there as her supporting shoulder.

Lucy watched the events with a look in her eye. Silently scoffing to herself, she took her leave.

When Asteria calmed down (and Poseidon's shirt stopped steaming), the Sea God gently pushed her away so he could see her face. He used his thumb, enhancing it with divine power, and wiped away the acidic tears.

"Is everything okay? Did I say something wrong?"

' _No...I'm just happy to have you as my dad.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For Asteria's birthday, Poseidon took her fishing. Not deep sea, not yet, because that would attract the attention of Amphitrite and Triton, and the Sea God did not want his daughter to have to deal with her step-family on her birthday. So, seeing as the Hunters had made it from the Appalachian Mountains all the way down to Tennessee in a single day of non-stop traveling, Poseidon took his baby girl to Lake Chickamauga.

The same lake that claimed Tennessee's record largemouth bass.

The trip had been a blast for the both of them, despite the hilarious mishaps along the way, such as the time Asteria showed her inexperience with the art of the cast, and ended up slapping the water, and snapping the rod in twine against the boat's side due to the amount of force behind the cast. Or the time Asteria had felt a slight tug on the other end of the line, and ended up getting the hook lodged into a submerged tree. Or the time she reeled in a loose log, thinking it was a fish. The excitement that had been on her face almost made the entire episode sad to watch.

Of course, the fact that Poseidon was loading the boat didn't do a blessed thing to lift Asteria's spirits in the face of so many embarrassing moments. Further on that subject, was the time neither Aster or Poseidon had been paying attention to the other, and they went to cast at the same time. They ended up getting their lines tangled in the most convoluted set of twists and knots ever to grace mortal man. However, the event that took the cake as 'most hilarious' was when Asteria had set the hook, lodging lead inside the bastard's mouth, and began to fervently reel it in, struggling mightily against the fish—it had to weigh upwards of 20 pounds!—…and then the line snapped.

The world stood still for a few moments as Asteria and Poseidon processed this, before the Sea God busted a gut laughing at the absurdity of the situation. The demigoddess had a twitching fit as she held her rod in a single hand, before snapping the graphite rod in half with nothing but physical force. With a shriek, she had dived into the lake water, and instantly zeroed in on the fish that was frantically swimming away from her, with a hook in its mouth.

Poseidon had fallen out of his chair laughing when his daughter resurfaced, a little one-and-a-half-pounder wriggling in her jaws. Asteria had pulled the fish out her mouth, holding it by the mouth, and proudly proclaimed, _'Caught one!'_

Despite his laughter, Poseidon felt a surge of pride at seeing his baby grinning with her first catch.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Scouting for Birds with Bertha and Sarah_

 _August 20, 2006_

It was early morning when the Hunters breached the Texas border, as in still very much dark out, and would be for a few more hours, but it was sunrise by the time they reached their chosen hunting grounds for the 2006 Dove Season. Said hunting grounds being Royse City, Texas, or rather, the massive fields that were close to the Royce City.

The Hunters split up into small groups of two or three, and spread out around the massive expanse of fields and dirt. While Asteria had memorized all of the groups and their locations due to her photographic memory, she was mainly focused on who she was with. Who she was with being Bertha, the anti-male daughter of Athena, and Sarah Dukes, the girly-girl daughter of Ares.

The bubbly pinkette was riding on her sister's shoulders, while Asteria was walking next to them. They were in a field of dirt, a fine, rich, black dirt that was comfortable walk on, especially to Aster, due to her bare feet. In rows from the gravel road to the tree line were the dead, plowed over stalks of harvested corn lined the field, with stray kernels strewn about the dirt. A food source for the birds.

The trees surrounding the field provided an excellent area for roosting, as did the adjacent fields. Already, the three girls were watching as massive swaths of dove came flying over, heading either for another field, one of the various water tanks scattered around the area, or were migrating elsewhere. The girls took note of the time, the flight patterns, and the size of the dove in the flocks. Bottom line, it was shaping up to be a good hunt.

While Sarah oo'ed and ah'ed at the birds like the child she appeared to be, Bertha asked Asteria, "Are you going to be able to hunt with us in a few days? I mean, given who your family was…"

The daughter of Poseidon smiled kindly at the concern her newfound acquaintance was showing. "I'll be fine. I'll always love the Flock, and I'll always remember them, but they are dead. Getting hung up over them will do me no good, and it's not like we're about to go shoot down a bunch of kids with wings. We're aiming for semi-intelligent birds."

Bertha studied Asteria for a moment, before nodding. "Well said." The girl fell back into silence, just watching the dove fly, listening to the whistle of their wings. After a while, Bertha said, "I know what it feels like…to lose loved ones. I've been there to see a lot of my sisters die over the centuries, and it's never a pleasant fleeing."

"Are other Huntresses the only loved one you've lost?"

Bertha looked at Aster, and Sarah stopped making her awe-filled noises. Sea-green slid over to meet slate-grey. "Did I pry too much?"

Bertha sighed after a pause. "No. You're just new. I'm not used to your presence yet."

"Well, telling me about yourself is the first step to getting used to me."

"Come on, Sissy, you can tell her," Sarah added. The pinkette's input caused Bertha to cave. The daughter of Athena raised the little girl off her shoulders, and set her down on the ground before taking a seat in the dirt herself. Feeling that this was going to be a long conversation (for some reason, Asteria could not read the Huntress' minds anymore), the sea princess sat down too.

"Okay, where to start, where to start…" Bertha trailed off, lost in thought.

"How about at the beginning?" Aster said dryly.

"Good idea…okay. Like I told you when we introduced ourselves, I was born in 1297. It goes without saying that it was a different time then, and women and girls were expected to do things a certain way, ways I never conformed to. Being born a daughter of Athena makes one naturally curious, inquisitive, and rebellious against things we deem to be inane for whatever reason. So, I challenged every expectation, I called into question every tradition, and I opposed all naysayers…even my own father.

"The man might have been smart enough to attract the attention of Athena, but that did make him a model father, especially with all the effort he put into making me like 'other girls.' Only, I wasn't other girls. I was better than them, and the boys, naturally so, of course, because of my half-blood physiology. I was smarter than any boy, faster, stronger, quicker. In any contest, I easily beat the competition.

"In that time, females were always supposed to submit to males, and were supposed to be naturally inferior. So, in a society where a male was the next best thing to a god, a girl defeating the boys in any arena, whether physical or mental, garnered…negative attention.

"It was ridiculous and exceedingly petty watching the boys I outsmarted and outmatched go running to their fathers, complaining and whining like little girls themselves, about how big, bad Bertha cheated and beat them. Of course, the fathers went and complained to my father, putting him on the spot as a man that couldn't control his rebellious daughter, which in turn lead to me father trying to bring me to heel…one does not simply bring a child of Athena to heel, male or female, without taking extremely drastic measures."

Well, Asteria knew that from experience. She was the one that broke Annabeth's pride by regressing the girl to a toddler, but the Princess of Death knew for a fact that pull-ups did not exist in the Medieval Ages, so it was safe to assume that whatever Bertha's father tried to do, did not work.

"What my father tried to do, did not work," Bertha said. "Instead, it brought something to light inside of me—a revelation if you will. I realized that I was _better_ than everyone around me. I realized that I lived in a society of bigots and hypocrites, and petty individuals that were threatened by a challenge to the natural order of their little worlds.

"So, when my father tried to whip me, and I snagged the leather right out the air, and yanked it from his grasp, the pathetic man ran screaming out into the village in the middle of the night, proclaiming me to be a witch. A mob came after me that night, complete with the village guard, my father in the lead. The village priest proclaimed that my father had been tainted by the Whore of Lucifer, and that by ridding the world of me, he would be absolved of his sins.

"In this ultra-religious time, God was more important than family. So, in his mind, being tainted with sin was the worst fate imaginable, and any chance at being absolved from it would be taken with a grateful smile, even if it meant the head of his own daughter. My father _eagerly_ took up the sword offered to him, and attempted to cut me down with it…I disarmed him and decapitated the fool on the spot."

The morning sun was still climbing, but the birds had stopped flying by now, their bellies full. Asteria was listening with rapt attention, each word being forever recorded. Sarah was frolicking around the field, playing with a stick, imagining being surrounded by hundreds of enemies.

"After the shock of watching me kill a grown man, my own father, no less, wore off, the mob went nuts." Here, Bertha snorted. "Do you know just how naturally superior a half-blood is to a mortal? You're an outlier, being even more powerful than Thalia or Zoё, but the rest of us? Even dunk and high, Katie could mop the floor with the best martial artists in the world.

"That night, my half-blood physiology saved my life. It wasn't that I was a better swordswoman than the guards, it was that I was stronger, I was faster, my reactions quicker, my reflexes sharper. I had no real knowledge of how to use a blade, but even a novice knows how to swing a sword, and raise it to block. That was all I needed. I killed…a lot of people that night, Asteria, a lot of people.

"Looking back, I still feel guilty for all the families that I destroyed, but at the time, I didn't care. It was them or me, and I cared not for strangers. However, it wasn't the threat to my life that fueled my rage so, it what they kept yelling. 'She signed a pact with Satan!' 'Devil's whore!' 'Witch!' 'Sorceress!' It was so _infuriating_ listening to those people keep saying those things. It was _infuriating_ that those fools could not get it into their minds that a woman could be superior to them. The only logic they could come up with was that I was receiving some kind of unnatural help, or some kind of demonic aid, because there was no way a 'lowly girl could stand up to a man.'

"After I had…finished, I fled as fast as I could go, out into the wilderness. I didn't have siblings, or aunts, or uncles, or cousins, or grandparents, or even friends to worry about me, so leaving was easy, especially with the threat that would be put on my life, and the inevitable witch hunts that would be sent after me. Still, the pain of killing my own father, the memories that kept assaulting me…it was still enough to make me cry, but my sadness soon morphed into a rage, a rage at males.

"If those boys had never whined to their fathers, and if the fathers had never whined to my father, none of that blood would've had been spilt, and if those boys had instead seen me as a challenge to be overcome instead of a threat to their so-called superiority, they would've strived to become better, instead of becoming a bunch of complaining babies." Bertha sighed. "About five days of wondering aimlessly through the world, avoiding civilization at all costs and scrounging around for what food and drink I could find, and using leaves to clean myself, the Hunt found me, and I was quick to join them."

"And after 700 years of living, you still harbor hatred for all males, regardless of their walks of life?"

"No, not hatred, not anymore, at least. I disapprove of males, but I'm not so naïve as to believe all men are the same as my father, or that all men are the same as the were 700 hundred years ago. However, what I hate is a male that does not possess the humility to admit to himself that he is not superior to every female on the planet. There are girls that can do things that he cannot, and there are girls that are better at doing what he does best."

"Do you realize that there are boys that are superior to girls, and are better at doing the things that they can do best?" Asteria asked conversationally.

"Of course," Bertha said evenly. "It would be hypocritical of me to believe that just girls can be superior. I realize that there is a man in the world that can lift more weight than I, and I realize that there is a man in the world that can better do accounting than I can. I do not like arrogance, but I do not hate men, either."

Asteria nodded, pleased that she was not dealing with a hypocrite feminist.

"That is my reasoning for not liking men in general. There others that will disagree with me, and others that will have an entirely different opinion altogether. There are also those that will vehemently defend their stances and beliefs, so be careful about who you question."

"Noted."

Bertha hummed, before looking over the field. "Sarah! Get back here, it's time to rejoin the others!"

"Okay!" The daughter of Ares came scampering back to the other two girls, giggling the whole way. Bertha stood up, as did Asteria.

"You've got dirt on your butt," the sea princess observed, her inborn ADHD rearing its head.

"Oh, do I?" A gleam suddenly appeared in Bertha's eyes, and the corners of her mouth twitched up ever so slightly. "Would you like to assist me in getting it off?"

Asteria cocked a brow. "I though lesbian innuendos were Catherine's shtick."

"Oh, they are. Doesn't mean I can't have some fun with them too. Besides, you're naked."

The brow was still raised, but then it settled back into place, and a gleam matching Bertha's appeared in those slitted eyes. "I am, aren't I? I think I feel some dirt in my butt…" Asteria sidled up to the much-older girl, swaying her hips a she did so. The daughter of Athena made a conscious effort not to look at the dancing tail. Asteria pressed herself against Bertha, a teasing, sultry smirk on her face, "Would like to assist me in cleaning it out?"

"Uh, am I interrupting something? Because I'll leave if I am, I don't want to intrude on you two's, uh, _alone time_."

Asteria and Bertha stepped away from each other, both laughing their heads off at the joke they just played out between them. Little Sarah looked at them with a look of complete loss on her face. "Did I miss something?"

The girls' laughter subsided, and Bertha rubbed Sarah's pink head affectionately. "No. Just me and Asteria becoming friends."

The daughter of Ares brightened. "Reallythat'sgreatbecausenowthatyoutwoarefriendsIcanhaveanewbigsister!"

"I though you wanted to be my friend?" Aster smirked.

"IdobutIcanbeyourfriend _and_ stillbeyourlittlesistertoo!"

Aster shook her head with a smile. It was like Angel and Nudge had been rolled into a singular body and had Sarah slapped boldly across the top. It was a nice feeling, seeing an immortal child over several decades be so bubbly and lively.

"Let's get back to the others," Bertha said.

In a show of strength and agility, Sarah leapt into the air, easily clearing the daughter of Athena, and came down to easily rest on the older girl's shoulders, now residing the same way she had before she went to play in the field. During the trek back to the Hunters' camp, Asteria saw this as the perfect opportunity to get to know Sarah better as well.

"You want to know about lil' ole me?" the child said, much slower and subdued than her usual lightning-fast speech pattern.

"I would like to, yes. If that's okay, of course."

"It's okay, it's just my past is really boring and short."

"Well, it's either walk in silence, or listen to your story."

"Come on, Sarah. I told Asteria about me, you can do the same."

It seemed the daughter of Athena had the same effect on the pinkette as the pinkette did on her, because at the encouragement of Bertha, Sarah started retelling her past.

"The late 1800s and early 1900s were really boring compared to some of the other eras in U.S. history. I was born to a regular mortal woman, probably because Dad was just looking for a release since Aphrodite wasn't in the mood but he was. I didn't have any brothers or sisters, and my mom made enough money to live extremely comfortable-like, so I was a spoiled little child that enjoyed the finer sides of life.

"Dresses, dolls, tea parties, friends, and a bunch of puppies and kittens at any given moment. I got everything I ever wanted, but…something happened. Maybe Mom made the wrong person angry, maybe someone swindled us, or maybe Aphrodite was feeling vengeful over Ares siring me, but suddenly, Mom and I were broke, and living in boxes. The only money to our name was the hundred dollars we kept safe with us always. Mom found work washing laundry, and I found work at a factory—that's illegal in America, now. Uh, I was always a chipper girl, like Annie from _Annie_. I even sang aloud in the clothes factory I worked at.

"Dad never came around to even offer a sideways glance. In fact, I didn't know I was Ares' daughter until a few years ago, when I, uh, had an episode of…violent rage. I guess maybe Dad didn't like the idea of one of his daughters liking princess pink instead intestinal red, and was embarrassed by me or something, and it took the over-the-top deaths of a bunch of monsters to get him to acknowledge me as his own.

"Anyway, I was almost thirteen when the robbers broke into the place where Mom was working, stole the money in the laundry place's safe, and when the police arrived, the bullets started flying…the told me Mom died instantly. After that, my boss let me have a few days off to let me deal with some stuff.

"That's when I met my first monster. A manticore, a wild one, almost killed me and ate me because I smelled delicious. Some deity was looking out for me that day, because it just so happened that this particular manticore was being hunted by my big sisters. With a crappy job, no Mom, no house, and not even a penny to live on, joining the Hunt was easy, and I've never looked back since."

A somber mood enveloped the girls then, at the end of the story. They walked a good distance down a gravel road, before Asteria spoke again in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You said that you didn't like 'icky boys.' Why are boys icky?"

Sarah immediately brightened. "That'sbecauseboyspoopandpeeanddrooleverywhereandtheyfartandburpanddon'tevensayexcuseme!"

"But don't girl poop, too?"

Sarah sniffed, closing her eyes and holding her chin high. "I am a lady. Ladies do not poop."

"Oh really?" Bertha said snidely. "You don't poop, eh? Hey, Asteria. Would you like to know about the time we hunted the Minotaur?"

Sarah gasped sharply in betrayal, her cheeks turning as pink as he hair. She pulled on Bertha's hair. "Sissy~! You promised not to tell anyone about that~!"

Asteria grinned teasingly. "Oh? Did the big bad Minotaur cause you have to have an accident?"

Sarah squeaked.

"Whew," Bertha mock-gasped. "The smell was something that you had to have been there for in order to believe it really happened. To this day, we still do not know how Sarah managed to produce such an awful stench all by herself."

Sarah blanched, her face and hair going completely white while swirls took the place of her eyes. She swayed about on Bertha's shoulders, before collapsing backwards in an unconscious heap of cuteness. The daughter of Athena kept a firm grip on the child's legs though, preventing Sarah from falling and hitting her head.

Asteria giggled at the display, reminded wholly of Max and Angel.

While not all of the Hunters were going to be like Bertha and Sarah, if they were even a little bit like them, then Asteria would be able to get along with the Hunt just fine.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Okay, I realize now that I'm a terrible author. Why is that, you ask? Well, I sat down to make this a snappy collection of one-shots featuring Asteria interacting with all the Hunters, while also giving each one a personality and history. What happened was, I took a day off from writing to play some video games and watch a series of driver's ed videos that all basically told me that distracted riving will result in my family sitting in front of a TV crew telling them all how devastated they are that I'm dead because I glanced at my phone when Twitter notified me of something, and I let it go back to sleep without even touching my phone.**_

 _ **Then, when I did sit down to start writing, I got washed away in the flood that is backstory and imagination, and realized that I last updated this four days ago, and I was over 6500 words. Now, the big question:**_

 _ **Continue updating until the Huntress Arc is over, and the**_ _ **Sea of Monsters**_ _ **is ready to be launched, or put this on the shelf and move to**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **?**_

 _ **Please be sure to Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	28. The Huntresses Pt 3

_The Huntresses Pt. 3_

 _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **had a strong comeback, I think, but I said that I would finish the Huntress Arc, and therefore I shall. To summarize the content and purpose of this arc for those confused and/or lost on what to expect, I shall relieve you of your burden.**_

 _ **The Huntress Arc is the tool that I am using to introduce my list of mostly-OC Hunters, giving them personality, backstory, and development, while also building Asteria's relationship with each one to establish a family-like setting. The arc will end with the beginning of the**_ _ **Sea of Monsters**_ _ **, and the content is, like I've said before, a series of one-shots.**_

 _ **One-shots can be thousands of words long, right?**_

 _ **So far, Zoё and Thalia's backstories have been covered in canon, while Bertha and Sarah's backstories were covered last chapter. Remember, Bertha is the daughter of Athena born in 1297 and challenged the era's view on what a girl can and cannot do, and ended up killing her father and a lot of other people, and Sarah Dukes is the pink-haired, girly-girl daughter of Ares who was born in 1890 to a rich mother, then went mysteriously bankrupt, worked in a clothing factory for a time, and then joined the Hunters at twelve-years-old after her mother was killed by robbers.**_

 _ **Feel free to go re-read previous chapters for details.**_

 _ **Oh, and we hit 400 reviews! Thanks, everyone for all your support over the months!**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP…but I do own my OC's

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _September 1, 2006_

 _Bird Hunting with Jess_

Asteria cocked a brow at what she was seeing. "You people actually use guns?"

"Yep," Cathy said, pumping her shotgun. "Not like we couldn't use our bows to shoot the little buggers down, but…it's a pain digging the arrows out of a yay-big corpse."

Right now, it was five in the morning. A fire burned brightly, giving the Hunt plenty of light as they geared up for the day's activities. Right now, every girl was decked out in ankle-support work boots, and pants and shirts colored tan, brown, and golden, with splashes of extra color, and camouflage prints designed to match a field of Texas dirt and brush. A variety of shotguns were laid out on the logs, butts in the dirt, barrels angled for the fire.

There were Remingtons, Winchesters, Brownings, Benellis, and Berettas. There were pump-action and semi-auto, there side-by-side barrel and over-under barrel. There were camo-printed, solid black, and those with wooden stocks and fore-stocks. In all honesty, it was a liberal's nightmare.

On top of camo-print clothing, each girl also had their own belt. Clip-on buckle in the front, sturdy material made the belt itself, and attached to each belt were three pouches, one big one in the back, and two slightly smaller ones on the side, each one colored camo…shocking. The back pouch served as the place in which the downed birds would be stored until the hunt was over, while the two side pockets were used for storing as many shells as possible.

Asteria wasn't wearing any clothes, as per usual, but she had donned one of the belts, loaded herself down with shells, and had a shotgun propped on her shoulder. Pure black, Benelli Cordoba, 12 Gauge, semi-auto, and a magazine capable of holding four shells. Every girl looked similar, and ready for war. Even Lucy and Victoria, the ancient daughter of Hecate and the otaku, were dressed for bird-killing.

Well, Asteria kept saying _every_ girl. Amelia didn't have a shotgun, because she would not be actively shooting. She had the mentality of a five-year-old for gods' sake, and did not need to be holding a lethal firearm. Instead, the toddler would be helping Roberta by retrieving birds. The girl did have a belt on though, so she could have her own set of dove for the hunt.

"Girls," Artemis said. All actions ceased as the immortal teens and pre-teens gave their undivided attention to their Lady. "Today is the opening day of Dove Season. It is a practice we have engaged in since its founding, and it is a practice we will continue to take part in until the end of time or we all die."

There were a few chuckles.

Due to the light of the fire, Artemis' eyes glowed brightly, and they shined with true mirth and excitement. "Now, the same rules and warnings apply just as they did years ago. Always have the safety on when not using your gun. Always have the barrel pointed up and away from other people when not using your gun. Never point your gun at another person, be they man or woman."

Artemis leveled a steely gaze at the more anti-male members of the Hunt. Cathy just snickered behind her hand. Joanna whacked her upside the head.

"We do not own the land," the Moon Goddess continued, "and it would be against my domain to restrict hunting to just us, so be prepared to share the fields with other hunters. We've all been here before, so we know what to expect. Rednecks, fathers with their sons or their daughters, brothers, sisters, families and friends. Regardless, of sex, I expect all of you treat your fellow huntsmen and women with respect…until someone get dumb. Then you may defend yourself accordingly. However, do not go out of your way to start something, because _I_ will be the one to finish it. Am I clear, girls?"

Even those that despised males responded loud and clear.

Artemis smiled. "Good. Now, you've all chosen your partners for today's hunt, and you've all chosen what field you wish to occupy. The sun rises shortly, and if there's enough light to see, there's enough light to shoot. Good luck, ladies."

With that, the Hunters gathered bags of decoys and shell boxes, met up with their partners, and made their way for which field they wanted to hunt in.

Artemis, Zoё, and Thalia joined each other. Bethany and Amber, the first couple Asteria met, predictably went off together, as did the other lesbians, Atalanta and Esther, daughters of Demeter and Apollo, respectively. Bertha and Sarah strode off, the pinkette on the daughter of Athena's shoulders, holding both girls' weapons on her own shoulders. Cathy and Joanna, the sisters, went off together, and Phoebe, Naomi, Celyn, and Lucy all joined up. Victoria went off with Octavia and Katie, while Roberta disappeared with Amelia on her hip. It was clear that those two had a strong mother-daughter/sibling relationship. As usual, the tot was sucking her thumb and holding her ever-present teddy bear.

That left Jess and Asteria to bond together over a little avian homicide.

The Southern girl calmly poured a bucket of water over the fire, and it went out with a hiss and a bellow of smoke that quickly dispersed. Jess grinned brightly at Asteria. "Ready to go?"

The daughter of Poseidon just hefted her shotgun, a smile of her own plastered genuinely across her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Does it feel like being at home?" Asteria asked her hunting partner.

Jess shrugged. "A little bit, but anywhere here is better than the damn North."

Asteria couldn't help the chuckle that came out. When she had her laugh, she asked, "What can I expect from our 'hunting fellows'?"

"Coarse language, yelling, wisecracks, middle fingers, and affectionate displays of a father's love for his son and/or daughter. For us specifically...well, considering we both look like a couple of thirteen-year-olds...maybe a few concerned gentlemen, some surprised teenagers, a really nervous preteen asking for our numbers, a cute kid or two telling us we're pretty, uh, someone might tell us we have nice butts, uh...oh! There's definitely going to be some boys calling us 'baby,' and a bunch of compliments on our shooting skills."

Asteria nodded, easily accepting the possible events of the day. "I've dealt with worse."

"I bet," Jess laughed. "That School place sounds like Hell."

"Oh, you have no idea," Asteria said with a gleam in her eye.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the sea princess and her hunting partner approached the field within which they planned to hunt, they made contact with other people. The forest they exited was next to a gravel road, and on the other side of the road was the hunting field. In between the road and the field was a ditch, along with powerlines. Lining the ditch were several trucks, all belonging to hunters that planned to hunt here today.

The sun was almost beginning its climb, with the eastern horizon beginning to change color from inky black to cobalt blue. As the girls walked across the road, and passed between the trucks, someone spoke to them, "Hey, are you girls by yourselves?"

The one who spoke was a man in his late forties, about six feet tall, a bit big around the middle, dressed in camo, obviously, and had two boys with him, the youngest about sixteen, and the other about eighteen. All three looked remarkably similar, but Asteria knew them to be father, son, and nephew.

Jess smiled, "Yes sir, we are. Our mom's in the field just over there, and our big sisters are down that way. Don't worry sir, we've done this before."

The man looked at them for a bit, his son and nephew chatting quietly about how the latter didn't bring the right eye contacts. The man nodded. "Alright then. Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to come get one of us."

Jess smiled even wider. "No problem, sir."

The girls continued on, the ground becoming uneven and awkward beneath them.

"He was nice," Aster observed.

Jess shrugged. "Most people down here are. Small town, in the country, everyone knows their neighbors; church is a big thing here, just about everyone reads the Bible, and family is the most prized possession. Contrary to popular belief, the South is not solely occupied by racists, misogynists, and inbreeds."

Asteria looked at Jess, who had a peaceful, wistful smile on her face. The girl was definitely born here. "So...our mom and our big sisters?"

"Well, it's technically not a lie. Artemis is kinda like our mom, and everyone that looks older than us is kinda like our big sisters. Hey, you okay?" Jess asked, seeing the...different look on Asteria's face.

"Yeah…" she said distractedly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't get to have much of a childhood, and I was under the impression that I was grown in test tube for most of my life. I still haven't...gotten used...to the whole...family thing...yet."

Jess just smiled softly, and pecked the younger girl on the cheek. "Don't worry, little sister. I'll help you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria and Jess set up shop about 300 feet from the road. The daughter of Poseidon set their bag down, pulled out the Mojo doves, set those up about twenty feet away from them, while Jess got out the 'chairs.' In this case, chairs meant these little tripods with a triangular pad of material to sit on. The chairs were only about a foot-and-a-half high, but they were perfect for a couple of your average 'preteens.'

The sun was higher now, almost high enough to illuminate the land, but not quite yet. Although, the low light meant nothing to the enhanced eyes of a Huntress and a genetically perfect creature. About a hundred feet to their left were the men from earlier.

"So, you excited?" Jess whispered, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb those within the vicinity. In the silent still of the early morning, sound carried more than what one would expect.

Asteria shrugged. "Mixed feelings, really. I mean, this is a first for me, so I'm eager to give it a try, but at the same time it's like: 'I've been to Antarctica, fought a god, went to the Underworld, and can fly, what's shooting down birds?'"

Jess nodded. "I get it. You want to try out this new thing, but said thing seems bland and dull compared to what you've done in the past."

Asteria smiled in a pained way, hoping that she wasn't putting her new friend out.

"I understand. I've done some big stuff, too. You'll enjoy this, trust me. Give it a few shots, but make sure you've got the safety off; there's nothing worse than the feeling you get when you go to shoot a bird only to for the trigger to tink in place because you didn't press the button. So, click the safety off, heft your gun onto your shoulder, like this," Jess propped her gun up, "line up that metal ball with the site at the muzzle, lead the bird, and fire when you feel ready, but don't be too lazy, or he'll get too far off."

Asteria just nodded, knowing all of this already. It wasn't like she had spent months nailing monsters in the eyeballs using a nickel-plated Desert Eagle or anything. History might've said that children of Poseidon have a terrible amount of accuracy, but Asteria did not fit that bill. Her eyes were too good, her reflexes too sharp, and her cognitive processing too fast. Hitting moving targets, no matter how small, was easy.

The girls fell into a comfortable silence. The sun was high enough now to where those with adjusted eyes could see well enough across the field, which meant that it was now legal hunting time, which meant that every one of the 500+ men, women, boys, and girls that occupied the vast expanse of the Royse City hunting area were on red alert for anything that had two wings and moved.

Hundreds of eyes roamed across hundreds of acres of land. Hundreds of ears listened carefully for any hint of whistling. The Hunters were all infinitely more attuned with their senses than any mortal, but even they were on close lookout. For Artemis and Asteria though, it wasn't fair.

As the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis could sense the location of every game animal on the entirety of the continental United States at any and every time, so right now, she was aware of every dove, all of their sizes, their age, their diet, and every location of the birds. She was aware of their of their movements, how fast they were flying, the wind speed and direction, and how many birds were in each flock. Likewise, Asteria's sense of smell allowed her to detect the several hundred dove within a 500-meter radius, as did her electro-sensing. Also, quickly shifting the structure of her eyes to infrared, the hybrid saw the bright signatures of a moderately large flock of birds already inbound.

"Boys, be still," Asteria heard the father say. "Out in front. A whole flock of 'em."

"Yes, sir," replied the son.

"Uh, where?" the cousin asked. Not having his contacts was really bad for him.

"Right out in front, genius."

"Uhh…oh! Now I see 'em."

"'Bout time. Get ready."

Asteria and Jess shared a look, before clicking off their safeties in tandem.

The flock was upon the group of hunters seconds later, and they all bolted to their feet like trained professionals, guns cocked and safeties off. The air was filled with gun fire as five weapons went off multiple times. Several dove flopped lifelessly to the ground, while the rest broke off and veered in all kinds of directions…right into the lines of sight of other hunters.

More gun fire broke the silence.

Asteria had a giddy grin on her face as she registered that her empty magazine had an equal number of kills on the ground. Now, due to the color of the dirt and the color of the dove's plumage, one would be hard-pressed to find their kill unless they kept a trained eye on the drop spot at all times. Asteria didn't have that problem.

She could smell the scent, see the bird, and she felt where her kills had impacted the ground due to the seismic vibrations, as well as all the other birds that had been shot.

With a chorus of celebratory 'heeeeeys' and 'aaaaaaays,' the five hunters broke their camps to retrieve their earnings. Asteria watched Jess as she plucked up one of her birds, and twisted the head clean off in a spurt of blood, before dropping the little avian down into her pouch. The Southerner shrugged. "Making sure it's dead."

Asteria just nodded, found her first two birds, tore their heads off with laughable ease, before coming across the third. Now, things got emotional…slightly. This third bird looked to be perfectly fine, sitting comfortably, big eyes wide and curious, but there was a spot of blood on its side from where a few pellets had made contact. Asteria reached down and brought the dove up, examining it.

It cooed at her curiously, tilting its little head to the side to better view the hybrid. Its black eye stared at her with unfathomable interest. It was a big bird, big enough to eat and not feel cheated, anyway, so it ate well. This creature seemed so innocent to Asteria, so undeserving of being killed, plucked, eaten, and then shat out.

The sea princess calmly reached up and plucked the bird's head off, then dropped the corpse into her pouch.

That thing was going to taste really good later on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the hunt continued much the same, with Jess and Aster nailing birds left and right with single shots. In less than thirty minutes, both had accumulated their limit of fifteen dove, with neither wasting a shot. Fifteen shells, fifteen birds.

Simple as that.

However, instead of immediately returning to their campsite, the girls had opted to stay in the field, if only to observe the admittedly humorous interactions between the two cousins.

"Gah! I can't freakin' see 'em, dammit!"

"Well maybe if you had brought your damn _eyes_ , you wouldn't be having this problem, now would you?"

"Fuck you, dude."

"Nah, that's gay.

 _Later_

A lone bird had come flying by, and the son let his half-blind cousin take a shot. Missed…missed…missed.

"Dude. You suck balls." The son promptly hefted his gun, and the dove went limp upon the muzzle flash.

The cousin's eye twitched.

"Oh, you can go get it, I mean…you shot first."

The cousin looked at the son, before walking off to retrieve the dove.

"You know. You might be a terrible shot, but you are an _excellent_ bird-bitch."

The cousin threw his middle finger over his shoulder.

 _Later_

The sun was bright and shiny at this point, the entire field illuminated.

The cousins were standing a ways apart, before the younger tensed. "Axle, be still."

The older cousin, apparently named 'Axle,' froze in place. Asteria and Jess also stopped moving, so as not to interrupt the boy's shot. It was the respectful thing to do.

The lone bird came _loafing_ across the field, low to the ground. Perhaps the avian had some intelligence, because it chose to lazily flap its way between Axle and the girls, which would've ruined the boy's shot, or potentially get someone killed if he opened fire. Instead, the boy was seriously confident in his skills.

"Down!"

Axle hit the dirt, Jess paled, Asteria got ready to move, and the boy shouldered his gun. Even from a distance, the hybrid saw his hazel eyes widen upon seeing her and Jess, and he was _quick_ to snap his barrel up…then he snapped it back down when the lazy dove cleared the girls.

 _PRACK_

The bird plummeted.

Jess shared a look with Asteria. "If it was anyone besides me and a select few others, that boy would no longer be breathing right now."

Asteria snorted.

 _Later_

Two birds were flying high.

The son opened fire on them. One shot…went down…second shot…missed…third shot… _got 'em!_

The two doves landed right next to Axle.

"Keep 'em! Lord knows your blind ass needs 'em!" the son called.

Axle threw up his middle finger, but a large grin was on his face as he pocketed the dove after tearing their heads off.

 _Later_

It was late in the hunt now, and the surviving dove of the morning's brutal onslaught (seriously, the amount of gunfire made the field seem like a war zone) were all flying high and heading for roosting areas. The son had reached his daily limit, while having also shot down enough dove for his half-blind cousin, except that he was just one bird short of making an even thirty. The father had left for the truck some time ago, having already acquired his limit.

"Come on, man. Just one more bird-one more freakin' bird," the cousin complained.

The son remained silent, just scanning the horizons, periodically checking behind him for any secret stragglers. Asteria had to grin. Having all these extra-sensory abilities really took the suspense out of things. She could sense an incoming dove, flying high, very high, almost too high to shoot, but she gave the son a little mental nudge anyway.

The sixteen-year-old glanced up on a whim, and exploded into action, shouldering his gun, clicking off the safety, and began firing. Each shot was _visibly_ behind the high-flying bird, with the wads flying up just a scant few inches behind the avian. The damn thing was just too high. Eventually, the gun began clicking.

"Dammit! Need to reload!"

 _BAM_

The boys both whipped around to see smoke curling out of Asteria's muzzle. The bird flopped to the ground.

"Did you just _hit_ that bird?" the son asked, amazed.

"Yep," Aster chirped.

"Goddamn, girl! Gimme some for that!"

The son trodden over, holding out his enclosed fist. Asteria grinned, eagerly bumping fists with the boy. Despite being about four years older than her, he was only about _four inches_ taller, putting him on the short side for a growing young man. Beyond that, Aster didn't care.

Wasn't like this guy was of any significance to her life.

"Did you shoot that down for yourself, or what?"

"Nope it was for you-or your cousin. Whomever needed it."

"Damn, thanks!" the son turned back to his cousin. "Yo! She said we could keep it!"

"Alright!"

The eighteen-year-old began to scour the field for the downed bird.

"So, what's y'all's names?"

"I'm Asteria, and this is my big sister, Jess."

The boy held his hand out, offering a shake to the much older girl. Jess gladly took it.

"Damn, that's a good grip."

"Thanks," Jess smiled. Asteria knew she could've easily broken his hand. "So, what's your name?"

"_"

Jess and Asteria blinked. They saw him open his mouth, saw his lips move, but they couldn't hear what he said. Hell, they could _read lips_ but for the life of them, they couldn't make out what he said. The boy continued grinning at them, but whether it was a grin of friendship or a grin of mischievousness was anyone's guess. Asteria tried peering into his mind, but found herself…blocked.

"Hey, I can't find it!"

The call of the cousin broke the girls out of their stunned silence, and Asteria and Jess immediately zeroed in on where he was vs where the dove had landed. "He's over there!" the both said, pointing.

The cousin followed their fingers— "Ah!" —and made a beeline straight for he saw the little bugger. He propped his gun on his shoulder, picked up the dove, cleanly ripped off its head in a spurt of blood, and pocketed the dove. "Alright, that's fifteen!"

"Hell yeah!" The son looked back at the girls. "Uh, thanks for the assist, Asteria, and great shooting, both of you. Hey, you need help counting your birds?"

"No."

"We got it. We're both at fifteen."

"Oh, wow. Well, in that case, I hope both of have a wonderful day." The boy did a little bow, a teasing grin on his face. He stood back up, and he and his cousin gathered their things, and made their way back for their truck.

"Could you read his mind?"

"No. It was blocked."

"Huh. Think he was a god?"

"Jess. You've met gods."

"Fair point."

"Wait-how did you know I could read minds?"

"Lucy told us the first night that she could you feel you probing our heads. Girl made a spell that blocked you out."

Asteria's cheeks turned a bit green in embarrassment at being caught. "S-Sorry."

"Oh, it's no problem. You didn't notice, but there was only some things you got to see, because we limited you on what you could access in our heads."

Asteria raised a brow.

"We're decades old, little sister, and we live with a goddess in a world of magic, gods, and monsters. You didn't think we could combat something invading our minds, did you?"

"Sorry if I made any of you feel threatened," Aster said genuinely sorry.

"Like I said, no problem. It was actually a nice change of pace, getting to use our mental shields again. Anyway, let's get back to camp."

The two girls quickly loaded up their Mojo doves, their chairs, their ammo crates—which were wholly unneeded in the end—and themselves, then they headed for the dirt road. A few stragglers flew above them, but neither child cared in the slightest. Nor did they care about the few scattered cracks of gunfire. They were both winding down form their hunt, and Asteria could say with complete honesty that she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

They reached the dirt road, and a truck came rumbling by. A strange silver Ford with a license plate that read 'HNTRSS.' Aster and Jess both grinned like children on sugar rushes. The truck stopped in front of them, and the shotgun seat's window rolled down, revealing the smiling face of one Zoё Nightshade.

"Well? Get in, little sisters."

The rear door was opened, revealing the wickedly smirking Thalia sliding to the far side. Jess was the first to climb, followed by Aster after she threw her bag into the bed of the truck. The hybrid shut the door, and the Ford rumbled off with an adult Artemis at the wheel.

"Have fun, girls?"

"Yes, M'lady."

"Yep!"

The Moon Goddess beamed. "Good. I'm glad you both enjoyed yourselves."

"We all got limits," Thalia said. "How 'bout you two?"

"Limits, duh," Jess snarked.

While Jess and Thalia began bickering about who the better shooter was, Asteria was talking with Zoё mind-to-mind.

' _You said…you said 'little sisters.' Plural.'_

' _Indeed. Did I make thee uncomfortable? I'm sorry if I did-'_

' _No, no…it's just…I…never had anyone call me little sister before, besides Jess.'_

' _Do you want me to not call you that anymore?'_

' _No, I…I kinda like it.'_ Even in her thoughts, Asteria sounded embarrassed at revealing a new guilty pleasure. _'Does that mean I can…are you okay with me calling you…can I call you my big sister?'_

Zoё smiled warmly, and the hybrid could feel that warmth through her mental bond with the demi-Titan.

' _Of course you can call me your big sister.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Alright, this was originally going to be longer and with more content than just Aster and Jess, but I got carried away with the Dove Hunting scene. The whole sequence was Inspired by my own hunt back in September, and it shouldn't be hard to figure out which one I was in the story. I was seriously giddy writing about my own experience like that.**_

 _ **So, to recap the entire arc so far: Asteria is interning with the Huntresses. They all have a variety of backgrounds, each one with a varying level of trauma. This arc explores those stories, while also building Asteria's relationship with each one. Currently, Aster knows Thalia, Bertha, Sarah, Zoё, Artemis, and now Jess, all on a personal level. More characters will be introduced in later chapters, but for now:**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	29. The Huntresses Pt 4

_The Huntresses Pt. 4_

 _ **Okay. I think we had a record low reviews last chapter, coming out at four. Maybe people weren't bit by the review bug, or maybe they just disliked the chapter for whatever reason. After conferring with someone via PM, our leading theory is that people come here to read this for violence and over-the-top death, and not for fluffy and heart-warming moments between Asteria and the Hunters.**_

 _ **To test this theory, this chapter returns to the darker roots of**_ _ **Xenomorphic**_ _ **, as well as exploring the darker side of the Hunters of Artemis. Who said a group of immortal teenage girls had to be all lovey-dovey and in tune with nature? Who said they couldn't take an active role in the criminal underground?**_

 _ **Get ready for some blood ladies and gents!**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ AVP is owned not by me, as is PJO, although I'm making progress with Rick on giving me the rights; stay tuned for more

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Hunters of Men_

 _September 23, 2006_

 _A bayou in Louisiana_

The dove had been good. Jess' recipe had been to season the breasts, use a toothpick to nail a couple of jalapenos to either side, and then wrap the entire hor d'oeuvres in a strip of bacon, before letting the entire mass of bird-breast ferment for a week before finally putting them over the fire.

Asteria had drained her acid sacs just so she could inhale more.

Jess was a _really_ good cook.

After spending a few more days in Texas, traveling around the state for better land to hunt, Artemis decided it was time to head east for the bayous of Louisiana. Asteria assumed they were here for alligators and the odd bull shark, but the mood of the girls was...dark.

Even the normally chipper and exuberant Sarah was subdued, and Amelia had forgone sucking her thumb for clutching her teddy with both arms, slightly twisting her upper body in place. The rest of the Huntresses, from the otaku Victoria to the stoner Katie, all had dark lights in their eyes, like they were mentally steeling themselves for something. Thalia had this look, and Lucy looked excited.

' _So, am I supposed to guess what we're doing here, or is someone going to fill me in?'_

Since discovering that all the girls present knew she was a telepath, Aster didn't see any point in 'talking' anymore, and just went straight to the point. It was always funny how she could speak into someone's mind, but not be able to read it. It was the same for the gods. Aster couldn't read a god's mind, but she could talk to them just fine.

The Hunt had gathered in a large, wooden shack nestled in the trees of the bayou swamp. There wasn't electricity, so all the light was provided by candles. It was a cozy place, had a distinct Cajun feel about it, and was clearly a favorite spot for the Huntresses to use as a base or lodge. The silver-clad girls were spaced around the shack's main room, with Asteria leaning against a window so that her tail could wave about behind her without worry about knocking into someone.

There was an exchange of glances and looks between the sisters, and Asteria began to feel vexed. Finally, it seemed the Hunt deemed the sea princess worthy of being clued in on the secret, because Thalia stepped forward from the wall she was leaning on.

"Uh," she started, clearly not knowing where to begin. "We're the Hunters of Artemis, right? So, we hunt monsters and animals, right?"

Asteria gave her cousin a deadpan stare.

"Well, what if I said that we do...more than that? Like, vigilante stuff."

The stare did not let up. _'I would say that I'm unsurprised, and then go on to theorize that there's some kind of illegal operation nearby, and that we're here to do something about it.'_

"Damn," Cathy said, "Little Girlie is smart."

' _If you ever call me 'Little Girlie' again, I'll shove my tail up your ass.'_

"Ooh, kinky. I think I'll need to stretch myself a bit before we do that, though."

Asteria rolled her eyes, and Joanna face-palmed. Cathy snickered.

"Ignoring that," Thalia mumbled, then she said in a louder voice, "Yeah. There's a human trafficking ring that operates out of here. We're going to find it, make a plan on what to do, and then bust it up."

' _I take it this a practice almost as common as hunting?'_

"It is," Artemis answered. "I figured many years ago that in a world where gods can only interfere so much, why not do what I can to help bring just a bit more light to the world? So, my Huntresses have been doing vigilante work for a long time now."

' _Neat. Do you actually kill anybody, or do you just beat them into a pulp and let the local law take care of what's left?'_

Here there were mixed reactions. Some looked uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot, glancing around at anywhere but Asteria, as if afraid of being judged by her, some met her dead in the eye, challenging her to judge them, and some looked away, a bit of remorse on their face. Basically, those that didn't kill, those that _did_ kill—and felt justified in their actions—and those that did kill, but felt guilty about it.

"Most of aren't afraid to take a life," Lucy said, "while some of us are deathly terrified, and others refuse to do so."

Asteria cocked a brow at the iciness in the daughter of Hecate's words. _'I am receiving a vibe that feels like I am being challenged by those feeling that I judge them harshly based on their killing of others. Am I correct or incorrect?'_

Artemis remained silent, opting to let her girls and her cousin sort through this.

"You are correct," Lucy stated. "We have our reasons for killing men, and most of us will not tolerate the judgement of a little girl hundreds of times our junior."

Asteria stared at the purple-eyed child for a good, solid minute, before she busted out laughing, or what constituted as laughing for someone whose vocalizations weren't caused by the passage of air across the vocal cords. The majority of the Hunters cringed and held their ears at the grating, screeching sound that was the laughter of Asteria Jackson.

Gods, even the girl's _laughter_ was designed to instill fear in others.

After Asteria's chuckles subsided, she looked at her yet-to-be-official sisters with a lazy, half-lidded, glaze-eyed look. _'Do any of you have any idea how many people I've killed in my life? From about the time I was four to about the time I was eleven, I killed an average of fifteen people a day. Now, that's fifteen people a day, 365 days in a year, for eight years. Do the math.'_

Unsurprisingly, it was the daughter of Athena, Bethany, that answered first. "That's about 44,000 people."

' _Sounds about right. Are there any contenders here?'_

Actually, there weren't. Vigilantism was a practice that was engaged frequently, but not one that always involved a bloodbath. More often than not, the Hunt took on more of a Batman-like role. Even the oldest among the Hunters, ones that had lived for centuries and millennia, did not have a body count that incorporated _thousands_. Not even Artemis had killed that many mortals in her eternal lifetime.

Hell, the Hunt hadn't even killed 44,000 monsters since its founding. Approaching that number, yes, but there yet.

Esther Holland, the daughter of Apollo and girlfriend of Atalanta Tupp, whistled lowly. "What kind of childhood involves that many corpses?"

' _The kind where you don't have a childhood so much as a pathological drive to survive against any threat, no matter how minimal or major.'_

"How?" Atalanta asked, at a loss as for anything else to say.

' _Linguafoeda acheronsis. They don't respond kindly to threats of any kind. I inherited that trait. There were a lot of threats in the School.'_

Asteria's mental responses were short, clipped, and precise.

The conversation fell into a lull because the current topic ran dry of anything else to say. Asteria, being somewhat of an expert on conversational control due to her telepathy and the amount of knowledge she had acquired over her lifetime of mind-reading, easily turned the silence back into sound.

' _I believe we were discussing something about finding a human trafficking ring, and derailing it?'_

"Yes," Artemis jumped on the prompt. "Zoё, Octavia, Celyn, and Katie, take the Northern inlet as far at will go. Bertha, Roberta, Atalanta, Naomi, take the South. Cathy, Joanna, Bethany and Amber, take the Western inlet. Lucy, Esther, and Phoebe, take the Eastern inlet. Thalia, Lucy, Jess, and Victoria, check the marooned steamship. I'll look after Amelia. Asteria, you can help me, or you can join a group."

' _Since I know your sense of humor is somewhat lacking, I feel that I can safely assume that you aren't joking, and are being serious. I'm going to be joining Lucy, Esther, and Phoebe.'_

Artemis nodded, and looked at the aforementioned Huntresses. "Girls?"

"'Tis fine with me," Phoebe answered.

"I think it'll be fun," Esther said.

Lucy didn't say anything, opting for a silent, stiff nod.

Asteria moved to stand next to them.

Artemis swiveled her gaze around the room, her silver eyes hard and glowing. "Remember, a ten-mile radius limit, watch each other's backs, and do not engage for any circumstance. When you find the smuggling ring, report back here immediately. We will coordinate from there. Keep in mind that if a fire-fight ensues, bullets can, and will, kill you. Am I clear, girls?"

There was a loud chorus of 'yes, M'lady!'

Artemis nodded. "Good. Now go forth and bring an end to this abominable work."

In a manner that Asteria found to ruin the mood, all of the Huntresses bolted out of windows and doors as fast as they could in a cliché spat of fast-paced action. Even the three girls she was with all barreled out of the nearest window, and sped off into the night. Asteria lingered about a second longer before giving chase to her comrades, but before she left, she heard Amelia squeal, "Mommy! Mommy!" and then the rapid shuffling of feet, the grunt of Artemis picking the child up and swinging her around, and the Goddess' voice, "Shoo wee, you need a change, child!" and then the giggling of Amelia.

Okay. So the traumatized five-year-old with the mental handicap wore diapers.

You learn something new every day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria easily caught up to the other girls, who were all pulling an _Assassin's Creed_ by climbing through the branches of the bayou trees, instead of swimming through the water. Aster blitzed up the trunk of a tree, and ended up right in front of Phoebe. The daughter of Ares yelped as the sea princess seemingly popped up right in front of her, and she almost fell, but the Huntress caught herself.

Lucy lighted on a branch, face as stony as ever, and Esther lighted on a branch opposite the daughter of Hecate, snickering. "What's the matter Phoebe? Can't handle a little jump scare?"

The tracker scowled at the younger girl. "Shut it you, or no sex with Atalanta for a week."

Apparently, Phoebe had the power to carry out her threat, because Esther squeaked and apologized. Satisfied that the daughter of Apollo was sufficiently cowed, Phoebe returned her attention to the patiently waiting Asteria. "Any particular reason you're just teleporting in front of people?"

' _I did not teleport, but I am fast. My speed aside, I already know where the traffickers are.'_

Phoebe's brows rose. "How?"

' _Daughter of Poseidon. Bayou. Water. Extra-sensory abilities. Seriously, with enough concentration, I can dip my finger into the surf at Camp Half-Blood and tell you what's going on at the bottom of the Marinas Trench. Wasn't hard to find the location where the traffickers are hiding.'_

Phoebe blinked. Lucy didn't react. Esther clapped her hands together.

"Sweet! Let's get over there, see what we're dealing with, report back to Lady Artemis and then come back in full-force to rock that bitch like a hurricane!"

' _Well said. Let's go.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the four girls weaved their way through the trees, Asteria smoothly migrated to Esther's side, so that she could make better eye-contact with the girl for the coming conversation.

' _If you don't mind me asking, what's your story?'_

Esther did something that surprised Aster. She telepathically responded, instead of verbally. _'My story?'_

' _Yes. What was your life like before the Hunt? How did you meet Atalanta? What's it like having her as your girlfriend? You know, stuff about you.'_

' _Ohhhh, okay. Yeah, um, I was born in 1457, London. It was really dirty place, smelly, grimy, and you were more likely to die in a hospital than to be saved there. My mother was a simple woman with a good voice, one that Dad got attracted to, and boom. I'm here. Life was decent for a middleclass mother and daughter for no other family aside from themselves. It was simple too. Mom sewed clothes, I went and helped out, at least until she got sick…and died…when I was about eleven._

' _Lived on my own for a few years, supported by Mom's friends, still worked in the sewing shop, and made some side money with my singing voice. One day, my voice ended up charming a snake, and it tried to seduce me. The snake succeeded for a time, and I felt the happiest I ever had since Mom died, until the snake's fangs sank into my body, and its betrayal became clear._

' _The snake was only after my voice, and once it had grown bored of me, it sought to pawn me off at a price to the highest bidder. In front of the other snakes, it had me stripped bare, bound, and displayed like a prize to be won. In desperation, my divine powers fully activated, and I pulled off a power that is the absolute last thing any child of Apollo should do: I called the power of the sun._

' _People attributed children of Apollo to be great archers, healers, singers, and musicians. They don't stop and think about how destructive we can be. We're the children of the_ Sun God. _While not at will, we can generate an explosion of heat and gas, basically blasting the surface of the Sun out of our bodies in a massive wave of destruction._

' _Of course, using this power requires extreme amounts of stress, and almost always ends up killing the half-blood due to the amount of divine energy that is called to use the technique being too much for someone that is half-mortal to handle. I got lucky. It was a low-grade explosion that wiped out the entire city and everyone in it in a flash of light and sound._

' _Still, the amount of power I used left my body a blackened, charred, crispy husk that made Darth Vader's injuries look like a mild sunburn. I was literal seconds away from death, but the bomb I became might as well have been a signal flare for every divine entity in existence, or more specifically, Artemis. I lost consciousness and found solace in the knowledge that I was going to see my mother again, only to wake up in the most comfortable bed ever. I haven't looked back since.'_

The quartet was about a full mile away from the traffickers.

' _Did you hate men to the extent that Zoё and Phoebe do?'_

' _I used to. For the first decades I served under Artemis, I wished for nothing more than see every man on the planet suffer with me being the one making them scream.'_

' _What changed your mind?'_

' _Time. It's impossible to hold a grudge for so long, and my anger eventually faded. I realized that there was no point in harboring a fury for the sex I rarely interacted with. Also, my heart began to get attached to someone else.'_

' _Atalanta?'_

' _No. Naomi. I introduced her to the Huntress lifestyle, bonded with her, became her friend. That was all it was for the longest time, even with Atalanta having joined us over a century prior, a friendship. Years passed, we went on many a hunt, many an adventure, and Naomi and I caught comfortable with each other._

' _One night, when we celebrated a lunar eclipse, we all got drunk. Even so, I can still remember that night vividly,'_ Esther had a serene smile on her face as she recounted her past. _'We were both virgins that night, but not anymore come morning. From then, we fully committed to a relationship as girlfriends._

' _Clearly, it didn't last.'_

' _Nope. It's…strange. We both couldn't explain it, but after decades of sleeping with each other, going on dates, hanging out and what not, we just…didn't feel it anymore. The love just wasn't what it used to be, the feeling wasn't there, and the magic just didn't click. So, we had a short heart-to-heart, and both decided that our relationship was hollow, and we broke up with a mutual respect for the other, no hard feelings, and the resolution that we were each other's first loves. We were both single for a few more decades, before me and Atalanta got together, and have been ever since.'_

Asteria nodded, but she had one more question. _'What's it like to be with a girl?'_

' _Oooooooh, got the hots for someone already?'_ Esther thought slyly. _'Well come on, come on, tell Big Sister Esther who's captured your heart. I promise I won't tell them, cross my heart and hope to die.'_

Asteria gave the older girl a deadpan look. _'I asked what is was like to be with a girl. I never said that I was crushing on someone.'_

' _Uh-huh. Sure. Well, considering I've never been with a man and never plan on it, either, all I can say is that having sex with a girl is the greatest thing ever. I'm not going any further than that, so if you want more details on lesbian sex, talk to Cathy or Lucy.'_

' _Lucy?'_

' _Oh yeah. She's the one that_ taught _Cathy everything she knows about sex.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hidden in the shadows of the trees, the girls observed what they saw. It was a wooden fort, lit by torch fire, most likely built during the Civil War and forgotten in the sands of time. The captured people were easily visible, all of them corralled into a pin, their legs and arms bound together, with gags strapped tightly in their mouths. The guardsmen patrolling around the fort were all men, shirtless, ripped, and complete with a variety of facial features and hairstyles, and all of them had guns. Full-auto guns.

Although, perhaps the most disturbing thing about this operation was not the location, the gunmen, or the atmosphere. It was the people, as in, the oldest person that was bound, wasn't any older than _twelve_ , and the youngest being _six_. There was an equal number of boys and girls.

"Well, ladies, we found it," Phoebe said. "Now we're going to contact Artemis, head back to the cabin, and coordinate from there."

"Asteria's already gone."

"Oh. We'll just catch up to her then."

"No, she's gone as in she's already assaulting the fort."

" _What?"_ Phoebe silently hissed.

The whole point of splitting up into groups was to cover more ground, reduce numbers and the chances of getting caught, and to make it easier to not _die_. Rushing in headfirst without a plan, no matter how powerful you are, was stupid, and the number one thing you should not do.

Phoebe glowered at Lucy. "What possessed her to do that? Now there's a greater chance the children will be killed!"

"Do you see that shipping crate over there?" Lucy asked quietly.

Esther and Phoebe followed the finger, and they did indeed see the aforementioned crate. They also saw that there was something written on the crate, but it was too dark and too far away for them to make out the words, even with their enhanced Huntress vision. Realizing this, Lucy whispered something in an unintelligible language, and the vision of her sisters suddenly became much better.

"Thanks, Lucy," they said in tandem.

Esther squinted at the crate. "I...T...E...X...Itex?"

"And I can only assume that the men are the lupine hybrids called 'Erasers,' and that Asteria is about to turn the bayou red," Lucy said with a disturbing, sadistic tone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria's emotions were in a tailspin, which told the girl one of two things: A) she was going to wake up one morning in a hissing, steaming, and boiling bed because her vagina's inner lining had been flushed out with a small flood of acidic blood, or B) she was not as over the School as she thought she was.

Those shipping crates had Itex slapped across them; Itex was the company that funded the School. The half-naked guardsmen were all Erasers; the footmen of the School. The captive children weren't part of a human trafficking ring; they were here to be test subjects for the School. Now that she was up close and personal, Asteria could sense the facility _beneath_ her.

It wasn't near as big as the one that used to be in the Badwater Basin, but it was sizable; twenty sub-levels below the earth, with the old fort on top serving as the elevator location. Asteria hadn't first felt the Louisiana School upon arrival here in the bayou because she hadn't been actively searching for it; she had put it in her mind years ago to forever forget the School and its sister locations.

It seemed the Fates were playing with her, because Asteria was right on top of another one.

And that was what sent the sea princess' emotions into a tailspin.

Anger, hatred, rage, fury, displeasure, vengeance, _bloodlust_. Being here, smelling the chemicals, hearing the screams, feeling the death, tasting the despair, and seeing the Erasers, filled Aster with the burning desire for violence, carnage, and destruction…but it also brought to the surface old instincts.

Asteria silently scaled the wall of wooden pillars, shaved at the top into points, and dropped down into the fort's confines with even less noise. As it happened, an Eraser had just been standing where Aster had landed, and his life ended when a clawed hand tore his throat open, causing his esophagus to flail about freely.

One down, fifteen to go.

Asteria sailed into a tree, slid through its branches, tracking a pair of Erasers from above. She dropped down into a patch of brush, and hissed silently. The hybrids heard, and they came to investigate the sound. When they got close, Asteria erupted from her hiding place, her arms going through the Erasers up to the shoulder. She bulldozed forward into an adjacent pile of brush, and deposited her load.

Not wasting time, Asteria scrambled up the side of the ancient house that once served as the captain's quarters when the fort was still being used. She snuck up behind the sniper, placed her left hand over his mouth, held his right arm in place with her own, and stabbed him from behind with her tail in a spray of blood. Removing her tail from the Eraser's stomach caused what was left of his intestines to come spilling out.

Four down, twelve to go.

There was one more Eraser in this section of the fort, and Asteria made short work of the hybrid. She bolted up behind him, held him from the side, and impaled him with her tail. The Eraser gagged as the barb came shooting out of his mouth, covered in blood and other bits. With a low hiss, she removed her tail and the corpse drop.

By now, the scent of blood was strong in the air to those with a powerful enough olfactory sensor, which was the remaining eleven Erasers. Four of them elected to stand guard around the children, with the other seven forming two groups of three, and the leader of the hybrids striking out on his own after taking his wolf form.

Asteria moved fast, her predatory instincts in full control now. She slashed apart the lights, easily avoiding the Erasers, and soon the fort was bathed in complete darkness. Now it was time to hunt. The daughter of Poseidon remembered the last time she had had to behave like this, stalking other living beings. It was Antarctica, Weyland's team. She had been eleven that night.

Here she was, two years later, hunting men once more.

It gave Asteria a _rush_.

The hybrid stalked the fort, and dispatched the first group. A slit throat, a tail to the heart, and jaws to the throat saw three Erasers dead in less than two seconds. There hadn't even been enough noise to alert the other Erasers to their comrades' deaths. The second group of Erasers had climbed the wooden stairs to find the body of the first hybrid Asteria had killed. The Princess of Death descended upon them like a wraith.

The first Eraser died when Asteria landed right in their midst, and crushed his skull in her grasp. The second died when the girl lunged forward, her jaw widening further than what should've been possible, and bit down with so much power that the Eraser was decapitated. The third died as Asteria bit into the second's neck by way of decapitation via the tail.

Subject 3 stood back and opened her jaw, letting the profusely bleeding cranium locked inside fall to the ground with a wet splattering sound. A low hiss escaped the hybrid's mouth, one that caused the blood lining her maw to bubble and burst. A grin tugged at Subject 3's lips.

She had _missed_ this; the feeling of her claws sliding through flesh, her tail cleaving through muscle and bone, her teeth sinking into the warm meat of a fresh kill. Blood covered Subject 3's arms, lips, teeth, and tail, signifying that she had killed with all of her lethal areas. This was what was natural, this was what was right, this is the way it should _always_ be.

The Eraser leader howled as he leapt through the air, his path making it to where he would go down right on top of whatever was killing his men. What the hybrid didn't expect was for his prey to suddenly dart off to the side and out of sight. The Eraser landed with a heavy thump, the wood beneath him cracking.

Something grabbed his arm, and whipped him around. Then something tore right through his midsection, making him scream. The Eraser had time to see what was assaulting him up close before he was pulled further along the tail's length by his arm, the ridged spines of the tail carving up his insides. A red-covered face, tendril-like hair, and _pure black eyes_. The Eraser was tugged forward one last time with one last scream, before the tail was ripped out of him with a splatter of guts.

Subject 3's solid orbs reflected nothing in their void-like gaze, but the cruel smile on her lips spoke volumes of her regression back to her darker ways. With nary a sound, the being of genetic perfection melted into the shadows, closing the distance between herself and her remaining prey in less than three seconds, and didn't hesitate to jump right into the fray, despite having an audience of young children.

It _was_ pitch-black.

Subject 3 literally landed on top of the first Eraser, and tore his head clean off his body in a shower of blood. The hybrid practically cart-wheeled over to the second Eraser, sliced his kneecaps off in a spray of bone and red matter, dropping the lupine hybrid, and then swiped with the opposite arm, obliterating the lower jaw. The other Erasers were firing blindly into the night, but one set of fire abruptly ended when the one pulling the trigger was split vertically in half. The two sides fell in opposite directions, and the insides of the fresh corpse kind of just…fell out. The last Eraser had no warning when the clawed hands of a thirteen-year-old tore into his guts, with the palms facing opposite directions.

One was pointed up while the other was pointed down.

With a sadistic hiss, Subject 3 tore her prey into two separate pieces.

Taking time to revel in her latest victory, the hybrid stood there for a moment, basking in the darkness, in the blood, in the silence—why was there silence? There should be screaming children or something, or at least the croaking of frogs, but there was _nothing_. Expanding her senses, subject 3 detected _nothing still_.

"That's enough, Asteria," Artemis said calmly as she melded out of the shadows of the fort's walls. Sourceless light illuminated the fort, revealing that the captives were gone, and the mutilated bodies that remained. The Moon Goddess narrowed her eyes at the state of her cousin. Blood-soaked arms, hands, mouth, and tail, and black eyes that had didn't have a hint of iris or pupil, only a primal intelligence that extended to kill or ignore.

The sea princess hissed in warning. _Back off or die_

Artemis didn't flinch, not at all afraid of the child in front of her. She had dealt with much worse than this. Although, she would be having a talk with Lucy later about using her magic to entertain herself by way mind-manipulation. Artemis sighed when Asteria decided that she was a threat and shrieked, bolting forward at no less than 150 miles-per-hour.

Artemis raised her hand, silver energy pulsing from her palm.

Asteria went flying back, and landed in an unconscious heap.

The Moon Goddess observed the carnage and sighed to herself. "Poseidon will not be happy with his daughter being manipulated like this…but there's nothing he can do about it, not against Lucy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Lucy_

 _September 23, 2006_

 _Louisiana bayou_

Asteria's eyes snapped open, and she immediately registered the Hunt, Artemis, the two-storied cabin that served as the Hunt's bayou campsite, and the somber smell in the atmosphere. Sitting up in the bed she was in, Aster took further note that she was on the second floor, the rest of the girls were beneath her, and Artemis was lounging in a chair a few feet away, taking the form of an adult rather than a child. The sea princess also registered that Lucy was isolated elsewhere in the cabin.

' _What the fuck happened?'_ Asteria demanded without preamble.

"What all do you remember?" Artemis asked in return.

' _Everything. Even the emotions I felt; emotions I haven't felt in killing something since Antarctica, and emotions that I swore I would no longer feel when killing something.'_

"Are you feeling guilty or remorseful?"

' _No. I feel annoyed at myself for once more taking pleasure in killing people. I didn't even feel pleasure when I caused a mass-suicide spree at the School, so I ask again: what the_ _fuck_ _happened?'_

Artemis sighed. "Lucy happened. She's the oldest living daughter of Hecate—the firstborn, actually—and she has a way with magic. I've spent centuries trying to break her of it, but she has a bad habit of manipulating people's minds. You are her newest victim."

Asteria stared at her cousin for a few moments, before she stormed for the door, only for said cousin to bar her exit.

"You can't do anything to her. She's more powerful than you know, and she won't hesitate to obliterate you from existence if she wants to."

' _And if she's actually that dumb, then my father will obliterate_ _her_ _from existence.'_

" _My_ father is not dumb enough to pick a fight with Lucy."

Asteria paused. Then, _'But Zeus is not imperative to the future of western civilization, is he?'_

Artemis paused. Then, "You know about the prophecy?"

' _Yes.'_

"How…?"

' _Apollo almost had his porno macs destroyed a few months ago after he let something slip and refused to elaborate further upon my inquiry.'_

"But then…you know about-"

' _Keep an open mind, cousin. And you're getting off topic. Move, please. I need to chat with Lucy.'_

While reluctant, Artemis did step aside, and Asteria stormed down the hallway to the room where Lucy was occupying, and didn't waste any time in ripping through the wooden door. The daughter of Hecate didn't flinch. If anything, she looked more amused than remotely concerned about the irate sea princess.

' _Stay the fuck out of my head.'_

"Please, like you weren't in all of ours."

' _True, but I wasn't doing it to manipulate. Telepathy is how I learn.'_

"Still an invasion of privacy."

' _But you are even worse. I reach into a person's mind to learn about them. You reach into a person's mind and rend them from their free will.'_

Lucy sat up from the bed she was laying on, swinging her legs over the edge. "Oh, but I never rob someone of their free will. It's much more amusing for me not to. What I do is…more refined. I didn't control you like a puppet on a string, I just…brought your _real_ you to the surface."

' _What are you talking about?'_

Lucy chuckled, and the sound made the light flicker on and off in time with the inflections. "You think you've evolved from the blood-craving goddessyou were back in the School? Oh no. You merely buried those feelings and desires, and buried them quite well, I might add, but what's buried can be brought back to the surface. _That's_ what I do. I bring people's repressed emotions and desires to the surface."

Asteria stared at the purple-eyed cretin before her. _''Blood-craving goddess that I was back in the School'? You dreamt of me.'_

Madness danced in Lucy's eyes. "Oh, so many times, Asteria, so many times. And many a morning did I wake up with my sheets soaked."

Due to her biology, Asteria did not feel fear. Ever; it was impossible. Her body did not produce fear chemicals. She could feel caution, yes, lots and lots of caution, but it would never evolve into fear. However, another almost-fear emotion Asteria could feel was 'disturbed.'

Right now, Asteria was _highly_ disturbed.

' _You had wet dreams of me killing people.'_

"And many an orgasm. You, child, have brought me greater masturbating material than Artemis and Zoё, Bethany and Amber, Esther and Atalanta, Aphrodite and Ares, and the Holocaust _combined_. I'll always thank you for that, Asteria." The way Lucy said 'Asteria,' so husky and honey-laden, made the girl feel threatened.

And she responded accordingly.

The Princess of Death blurred forward, slamming Lucy into the wall, cracking the wood and making the entire house shudder. The daughter of Hecate cackled softly. Asteria hissed lowly. _'Stay the fuck out of my head…and stay the fuck away from me.'_

Asteria dropped the child, spun on her heel, and made to leave, but Lucy stopped her.

"Oh, Aster~," the daughter of Hecate sang. Against her will, the daughter of Poseidon found herself turning around. "Don't be like that Aster. I really do love you, honest. In fact, I want to _show you_ how much I love you."

The light flickered, and in that single instance of darkness, the door was repaired, arcane squiggles and symbols covered the room, and Lucy was now no longer a twelve-year-old child an inch shorter than Asteria. Now she was a full-grown woman of 25, and easily towered over the sea princess by a foot at least.

She was also naked.

"Ahhh, that is _so_ much better. Now it feels more right that I'm the one top."

Now feeling threatened on a level she hadn't felt since her battle with the Queen in Antarctica, Asteria went into full attack mode, launching herself at the witch. She was frozen in midair. Instead of cackling in malice like your typical villain, Lucy just smiled softly.

"Now, now, there's no need for violence. There's not even a need for ill feelings between us. I'm about to introduce you to a world of pleasures you'll only be able to experience with me. So, sit back, relax, and let's have some _fun_."

Asteria was suddenly on the bed. She made to get up, but the naked Lucy pinned her down, straddling her. Asteria's muscles contracted, her throat building with acid, but Lucy _kissed_ her, invading her mouth with her tongue. Inexplicably, Asteria's acid retreated into her sacs. The daughter of Poseidon's body was unresponsive as Lucy's tongue rolled around in her mouth, and her knee pressed tightly against her crotch.

Eventually Lucy needed to breath, and she pulled back. "Mmmm, impressive. Even Artemis moaned aloud when I did that to her. You didn't even realize that I was using my magic to make you aroused. I haven't had a challenge this steep since I seduced my mother."

At Asteria's look, Lucy chuckled before elaborating. "Come now, baby. Immortality is too long to limit yourself to the bare basics of sex. I've done things in the bedroom that would make your head spin and your body quiver. To put in perspective of just how much I've done, for every video on _PornHub_ , I did it 100 years earlier."

' _You sure about that? There's some fucked-up shit on that site.'_

"Oh, I know, I know what I'm saying, too. I've done everything from scat to infantilism; everything from BDSM to femdom; everything from roleplaying to furry suits; and everything from bestiality to incest. I've shit in my pants, shit in people's mouths, and have had shit in my mouth. I've fucked people in the ass, and have been fucked in the ass. I've done animals, boys, girls, monsters and divine entities. Believe me, baby, I'm more experienced with all facets of sex than Aphrodite and all of her children combined, and I'm going to show you _all_ of it…and then you're going to tell me what you like and what you didn't like, and we'll go from there."

' _So, you're going to rape me?'_

"Rape? Oh, nonononono, it's only rape if you don't consent."

' _I'M NOT CONSENTING!'_

"Not yet."

With that, Lucy lowered herself, crawling backwards. Asteria's pupils dilated to paper-thin slits—not in fear—but in fury. She struggled mightily against the grip Lucy had on her, but the witch's muscles were supernatural, empowered by magic. Still, Asteria's physical prowess was not so easily overcome, and she began to raise her body, her arms beginning to lift off the bed.

Lucy tsk 'ed, and jerked her head around in a circle, babbling something in language more comparable to an infant's warbles and butchered sounds. The arcane lines that covered Lucy's room glowed, and then lines of similar design suddenly glowed all over Asteria's body. Suddenly, the girl could no longer move, and she couldn't tell whether gravity had been increased, her own weight had multiplied, her nervous system was being restricted, or if it was just the magic itself that held her down.

Seeing that her muscles were unresponsive, Asteria went for option number two; she screamed as loud as she could, her deafening screech rattling the entire house. However, there was no rapid flurry of movement from the lower floor, no panicked scrambling up the stairs, not even Artemis coming to check on her and Lucy to make sure everything was alright. Asteria instantly concluded that the symbols and sigils and squiggles around the room acted as a sort of barrier, because not even telepathy or prayer could get a hold of the Moon Goddess.

Poseidon was the first person Asteria had prayed to, but it was obvious he wasn't getting the memo otherwise he would be here right now, throwing down with the witch.

Lucy smiled calmly. "It's just you and me, baby. No one will interrupt us. Now, relax, and let me make you feel good…"

Asteria's mind went into overdrive as she desperately thought of a plan to escape whatever nightmare she had gotten herself into. While she was no stranger to rape-attempts, with Erasers coming after when she was still a boy, and numerous experiments seeing her as breeding material, she had always had the advantage of a sharp mind and an even sharper tail. Currently, she couldn't move, her mind wasn't reaching out to anyone, her prayers were unanswered, Lucy's tongue was slowly easing its way to her(Asteria's) clit, and the sea princess' powers were restricted—no they weren't.

Asteria funneled every emotion that was whirling through her into her gut, and imagined the entire Eastern Seaboard coming unglued. Aster's gut twisted, ruptured, expanded, contracted, burned, froze, was pulled, was pushed, was cut open, was pumped with rat poison, hot lava, fresh coffee and plasma, and was painstakingly removed from her body via her esophagus, but hey.

Places that weren't anywhere near fault lines were shaking if only by the tinniest bit.

Lucy was thrown off the bed due to the vibrations, and all her spells came undone. The amount of divine power Asteria just used would've been fatal to any other demigod, even Thalia, but as it stood, her gut was extremely sore. However, none of that compared to her absolute _blinding fury!_

The shaking of the world stopped, but Asteria wasn't done yet. She flew through the room, tackling the adult Lucy _through_ the floor, _through_ the rest of the Hunt's bayou cabin, and into the mud below. Then, she began wailing on Lucy's face in a blind fury, before gaining the presence of mind to use her tail.

Gripping tightly, Asteria held Lucy battered face still as she raised her most lethal appendage up, the blade pointed down. Without a moment's more hesitation, the daughter of Poseidon struck down with all the speed and force she could muster. Unfortunately, Lucy was not as powerless as she looked, because just as the tail came down, the witch's eyes came open, and they glowed solid purple.

" _ **ENOUGH! YOU WILL ALL FORGET THESE EVENTS!"**_

Then the light blinded every creature from the soaring eagle to the microbes at the bottom of the ocean.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _September 24, 2006_

 _Louisiana bayou_

Asteria woke up in her bed, in her own room, at the cabin, and felt weird. She knew this feeling; it was the same feeling she got whenever she thought back to her fight with Ares. It was the feeling that something was off. But the more she pondered on the feeling, the more she forgot in the first place why she was feeling that way.

With a shrug to herself, the sea princess got out of her bed, quickly did the covers, and exited her room without so much as a sideways glance at her dresser. She walked down the hall, following the smell of cooking breakfast. She got down the stairs to find the entire Hunt sitting at the massive dining room table, all chattering about last night's alligator hunt.

 _That's right_ , Asteria remembered, _we went hunting for alligators last night to have for breakfast today._

"Sissy, Sissy!" Amelia cheered from her highchair, which got the attention of the rest of the Hunt.

"Well, look who finally decided to join us," Cathy said. "I understand. I, too, rub one out real fast before getting the day started."

Joanna whacked her little sister upside the head.

While there were chuckles, groans, and giggles at the display, Thalia pulled a chair out next to her. "Here. I saved this for you."

Asteria nodded and smiled in thanks, and took the seat to her cousin's right. Now, with Thalia being on her left, that meant that there was someone to Asteria's right. It was the ever-brooding daughter of Hecate, Lucy.

"Morning," she said without much enthusiasm. In fact, it more of a grunt than anything.

Asteria returned the greeting with a curt nod.

"Alright!" Jess cheered from the kitchen area. "Breakfast is ready!"

A unanimous cheer went up from the table as the country girl brought three massive plates with her over to the Hunt, and expertly doled them out among the surface's length. The cooked meat on the platter of eggs, bacon, and pancakes looked positively divine, and the Hunt wasted in no time in digging in with a display of controlled chaos.

When Asteria took a bite out of one of the kebobs, she couldn't help but notice a rather faint, rather familiar taste. This meat kind of tasted like…an Eraser. But that was impossible so Asteria just chocked the flavor up to the naturalness of alligator and Jess' own cooking. Besides, this tasted good.

No one noticed the strange smile on Lucy's face, nor the way her arm moved as her fingers expertly brought her to a silent climax as she ran the events of last night through her mind over and over again. Being dominated like that, being suddenly thrown to the bottom…

 _What a rush!_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Okay, this was an experiment to see what the reviewers are looking for. Since the title AN and this one (and several days of forcing myself through this) four more reviews have been added, brining my quota up to eight. Now, the experiment is based on the theory that the stymied reviews are coming from a reader's disinterest in the fluffiness of recent chapters.**_

 _ **So, tell me if you liked this darker, more serious chapter, or if you preferred the warm bonding sessions Asteria has had in the past. Thanks!**_

 _ **So, we have introduced Esther and her backstory, as well as the Apollo child's ability to generate a small nuclear explosion at the typical cost of their own life, as well as return to the darker subject matter that is Subject 3 and her ruthless, almost sadistic, killing methods. We've also brought Lucy into light, with not a backstory, but actions. And boy is she a dark character.**_

 _ **The bit at the end with the flash of light? Yeah, that was the firstborn half-blood of Hecate altering the world's memory of the earthquake, and the memories of the Hunt to where they all thought they went gator hunting last night. Man, Mist sure is a powerful thing, right?**_

 _ **Oh, the reason for this taking so long to get out is simple: the muse wasn't there. I've spent these past few days forcing myself to write this out, and it actually kind of sucked. So, this story is unfortunately going back on the shelf for a bit until the muse returns. Now it falls to you guys to determine what I do next.**_

 _ **Update either**_ _ **Green-Eyed Ghoul**_ _ **,**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **, or**_ _ **Son of Jashin**_ _ **, or leave all of them on the shelf and go straight into the**_ _ **Assassin's Creed**_ _ **crossover. Your decision.**_

 _ **So, I need reviews on your opinion of the chapter, your opinion on Lucy and Esther, and your opinion on what to do next.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review Please!**_


	30. AN

_**I know this is the last thing you would want to hear from any author, but…I'm sorry guys. Due to extenuating circumstances, I'm going to be off the net for a good long while. I don't when I'll get back online, if ever, but I'll let you all know when I'm back. Just keep checking your inboxes for me.**_

 _ **I want you all to know it's been a great ride these past two years, and I've had tons of fun!**_

 _ **God Bless all of you!**_

 _ **-DelayedInspiration**_


	31. Return

_**In regards to the previous Author's Note…**_

 _ **APRIL FOOLS, BITCHES!**_


	32. Super Predator

_Super Predator_

 _ **And we're back after too long of a Delay, but who cares!? Chapter.**_

 _ **Even though it's been months, reviews for all chapters are up and available for all to read, which is useful after you don't remember feedback from so long ago. After combing through reviews, it is safe to say…no one likes Lucy. At all. Which is good, because you're not supposed to like Lucy.**_

 _ **Although, everyone seems to hate Lucy more for being OP than for being a rapist, but apparently rape isn't as important as a power level.**_

 _ **Anyway.**_

 _ **There is much more to Lucy than just being the firstborn of Hecate, and the sexual partner of many deities, but that is an arc for a much later date.**_

 _ **Now, this current arc, this Huntress Arc in which Asteria shares an adventure with all the Hunters in an attempt at characterization…I'm bored with it. Actually, I hate it. I had such hopes for it, just a bunch of one-shots and mini-adventures, some fluff, some humor, some familial bonding, some character development…then it started sucking. It became a beating to write, despite how much it seemed like I enjoyed it.**_

 _ **But I'm getting off topic.**_

 _ **I believe we're all ready for the next dose of canon, however I also believe we all remember Subject 3 Beta, the genetic clone of our beloved Asteria. You know, the one that slaughtered**_ _ **Twilight**_ _ **? Yeah, I think it's time to bring him into the fold, just in time for Thalia's Pine to get poisoned…but not before a mountain of exposition.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _May 2007_

It went without saying that a great deal had happened since the alligator hunt in the bayou back in September.

Asteria could say with great confidence that she liked most of the Hunt, and would gladly call them sisters…most of the Hunt. There were a few of the girls that Aster could deal without, for various reasons. Lucy was at the top of that list, with her cold and crass disposition towards the daughter of Poseidon being a major source of contention for the girl. There was also the way the purple-eyed girl leered at Asteria from behind her back.

It reminded the hybrid of the way the Erasers used to look at her when they were horny and desperate to fuck something.

The other two girls Asteria didn't care for were Octavia of the Longsword, the girl born during the time of the Roman Legions, and Phoebe, the daughter of Ares. The cause for the displeasure charged to the former was due to her extreme antimale ways, ways that went beyond simple hatred.

Asteria had caught Octavia sneaking out of camp one night when they were close to a suburb, so she followed. The Roman found a recreational basketball court where a group of black teens were playing a game of light night ball. She approached them, and against all stereotypes, the teens greeted her with respect and cordiality, the leader of the group asking if she needed a ride home or directions to somewhere.

With her telepathy, Asteria knew the boy to be genuine in his inquiry, and not looking for a one night stand.

Octavia had other plans. Plans that involved the brutal beating of eight young men for literally no other reason than that they were men. Because they had penises. Asteria had intervened, mostly because she saw herself on that court, herself from years ago when she killed for no other reason than to spill blood. Make no mistake, the daughter of Poseidon cared not for the boys' lives, or for Octavia's, but violence without a justifiable cause was pointless and tarnishing.

If those eight teens all had similar thoughts of holding Octavia down and raping her, then that was different, but for all of them to be nice and concerned, only to end up with life-threatening injuries…no.

Asteria wouldn't stand for it.

After getting a nearby resident to call an ambulance, the hybrid dragged Octavia's unconscious body bag to the camp, where Artemis had stood waiting with a displeased look on her face. Asteria did not know how Octavia was punished, nor did she care, but the girl never once tried to sneak off again after that night.

The reason for Asteria's displeasure of Phoebe was much the same for that of Octavia's, only where the Roman wanted to beat men senseless, Phoebe had wanted to unman a hapless child. It had just been another day in Colorado, during Deer Season. Asteria had chosen to hunt with Phoebe, to get to know her better. Eventually, a little boy no older than ten wandered into their sights, separated from his father and lost in the woods.

If the boy in question had been ten years older and looking to get laid, Asteria would've been fine with having a little fun at the perv's expense, but holding down a ten year old and putting a knife to his crotch was a bit extreme, especially when the child only wanted help in finding his Mommy and Daddy.

Asteria knocked Phoebe out and left her in the snow. Then she took the comatose child back to his lease, easily avoiding detection. She brought Phoebe back to camp with her, the last team to arrive, and told everyone what happened. Reactions varied, but the key response was Zoё. She walked right up to Phoebe and bitch-slapped her.

As far as bad times went, those were really the only two. There were the few times when the Hunters engaged in vigilantism, and Asteria unleashed her inner younger self, and violently slaughtered swaths of gangbangers, pimps, drug lords, cartel, mafia, etc. But those were only 'bad times' because it reminded Asteria too much of the school, which made her moody.

Other than that, it had been an amazing experience with the Hunters of Artemis.

Asteria had spent a few nights with Victoria Stewart the Otaku Huntress watching various anime of today's era and the early 80s/90s. It was fun for the both of them to point out plot holes and form theories regarding ambiguous endings. Asteria also got more detail on the nature of the lesbian relationships among the immortal teens.

As she had thought, not a single one of them had started out as gay, with Catherine being the sole exception, but that was only due to her nature as a daughter of Aphrodite, which was an entirely separate can of worms when it came to relationships, but anyway. No, none of the girls had joined the Hunt and was immediately smitten. It had taken most _decades_ before any of the girls admitted to liking women, and some had taken centuries.

The reason behind this was simple: predetermined standards. All of these girls were old, and all of them came from times when homosexuality was severely frowned upon, and disciplined accordingly. Even when they transcended the laws and regulations of normal man, these concepts still reigned supreme. These concepts were eventually defeated by time, human curiosity, and, more times than not, a drunken after party.

The girls, while immortal, were still mostly teenagers, and teenager girls had sex drives. They still had hormones, they still got horny, and they still menstruated…at least until their ovaries ran out of eggs (hadn't happened yet, but Zoё, Phoebe and Lucy felt that it fast approaching). As such, they sought release in themselves, at least until they got much older.

With the passage of time, came the passage of concern over previous concepts of taboos. Really, it all came down to a decades-long friendship, a mutual itch, blatant curiosity, and a little bit of wine.

Asteria once asked Zoё if a group of immortal teenage boys would all eventually go gay for each other. The daughter of Atlas shrugged.

"Perhaps. The minds and bodies of men work differently than that of women. Maybe testosterone would prevent such a thing, and then again maybe not."

Asteria had bobbed her head. "Food for thought."

Zoё nodded. "Food for thought."

Still on the topic of sexuality, Asteria had decided one night to indulge in her curiosity regarding the potential sexual pleasures afforded by her maturing body. So she went to Cathy. Unsurprisingly, Asteria walked in on the girl while she was pleasuring herself, and, also unsurprisingly, she did not have freak out at being caught, but instead held up the hand playing with her boobs.

"Just a minute."

Asteria just calmly waited by the flap.

"Ung…ung…unh…unh…AHHH~."

Cathy rode out her orgasm, filling the air with the sweet scent of her ejaculate, causing Asteria's nose to twitch at the smell. Cathy's eyes rolled into her head in bliss for all of ten seconds, before she popped right out of her bed with all the energy of a hyperactive child.

"So what can I do for ya, baby sister?"

' _I wanted to talk about sex.'_

"Well you came to the right place. Come, come, ask and I'll answer."

Asteria sat next to Cathy on her bed.

' _When did you discover that you were gay?'_

"Since I hit puberty. Everyone kept telling me I'd start noticing boys and liking them more. Never happened. I just flat out started noticing girls more. I once talked to my mom about—she said it happened from time to time with her children, in that we were just inexplicably attracted to the same sex."

Asteria raised a brow. _'So there have been boys like that as well?'_

"Yep. Freddie Mercury was not a son of Apollo."

' _I see. If you don't my asking, but why do you pursue flings with all the Huntresses, and settle for a relationship?'_

"Ah, that question," Cathy said.

In that moment, Asteria saw something in those ever-changing eyes: depth. The way Cathy said that, they way her eyes gained that far-off look, that glaze…Asteria realized that there was more to this daughter of Aphrodite than just a high libido and sex jokes.

"I've managed to convince everyone but Artemis and my sister that I'm a perverted sex-addict, and sometimes I even convince myself, but…as far as children of Aphrodite go, I'm a special case. Mom tells me I'm her favorite child, and Artemis tells me I have a really big heart. I love every girl I come into contact with—and not in that hippy, 'make love, not war' kinda way, but—really, truly _love_ them. Sex is just…sex is just the way I show it."

Asteria listened with rapt attention, soaking in every word. At the end of Cathy's tale, the daughter of Poseidon realized what creature she was sitting next to: one that had the emotional capacity to fall in love with any female and feel an equal amount of affection for all, and sexual intercourse was the chiefest way that she displayed this affection. By that explanation, that meant that Cathy was in love with Asteria.

' _Does that mean you wish to sleep with me?'_

Cathy cracked a grin, her previous emotional depth becoming hidden once more. "Not gonna lie, you are _really_ cute, like a loli from those anime that Victoria watches."

' _Thanks,'_ was the dry response.

"Meh, just being honest."

' _You didn't answer my question_. _'_

"What was it?"

' _Do you want to sleep with me?'_

"Oh, Hades, yeah…but not tonight."

Asteria blinked, caught completely off guard. While she wasn't exactly ready herself for sex, she fully expected to have to knock Cathy out after a heated, unwilling make-out session, but to just be completely denied like that by the sex-addict was like a rude slap in the face.

"All evidence to the contrary," Cathy said, "I take sex very seriously. To me, first time sex is when two lovers finally consummate their love in the most sacred way, and sex every time after that is an experiment to see what does and doesn't work. However, I also believe that before the first time can happen, both partners need to know their bodies in order to have the best sexcapade. I know my body, but you don't know yours."

Cathy reached under her bed and pulled out a medium sized box. She promptly handed this box to Asteria, who looked inside, and pulled out a plastic dick with a deadpan expression.

"Now, go forth my child, and discover yourself!" Cathy said dramatically.

' _If you're supposed to be a virgin, how can you use something like this?'_ Asteria waved the dildo around.

"Simple misconception. Artemis' oath is to swear off the company of men and accept eternal maidenhood. Millennia ago, when Artemis fashioned her oath, maiden did not mean virgin, but unmarried. So you can break your hymen as many times as you want and go as deep as possible with anything, so long as you don't get married or fuck a man. Loopholes~."

Asteria rolled her eyes, but she took her box and left, fully aware of Cathy's eyes on her butt the whole way over to the flap. Before exiting, Asteria quickly bent over and pushed her butt out, causing Cathy to wolf whistle.

Asteria masturbated for the first time that night, a task more difficult than she originally thought, due to her inability to think of something arousing. Still, she managed to get herself wet, and from there it was a wild ride of memories. She even managed to find her own G-spot.

Aster followed Cathy's instructions of 'discovering herself,' in that she tried…everything. She experimented with all the different sizes and shapes, both vaginally and anally. She used the vibrators and the butt plugs, the beads and the eggs. Asteria surprised herself when it came to anal stimulation.

Before she tried it, the girl figured that after seven years of disuse, her sphincter would be too tight to allow entry, even with lube. Still, Asteria did try it, and that's when she discovered that of she relaxed enough, her ass would loosen to accommodate…anything in the toy box. However, while it was an interesting discovery that she could control how loose her sphincter was, Asteria found anal to be unsatisfying.

She supposed any other creature would feel pain if they tried anal without proper preparation, but she didn't feel pain in the normal sense. However, doing anal, while not hurting, also brought forth no pleasure. To Asteria, it simply felt like she was pushing something in and out of her. She found no joy in butt stuff.

Moving on, the daughter of Poseidon pushed past her concerns over fingering herself, on the basis that her claws would tear up her insides. Twas not the case. Once more, Asteria's body proved to be perfect, shattering all expectations, as her vaginal walls were tough enough to handle the sharpness of her claws, affording her a pleasurable experience without a toy.

On top of being able to control her sphincter and her insides handling her claws, Asteria discovered a third thing about her body that she found interesting: her cum was as green as her eyes, and she tasted like apples. Which was strange in and of itself considering Asteria didn't eat apples…or anything, for that matter.

Asteria eventually returned the toys to Cathy, confident in what she liked and didn't like, but she didn't sleep with the daughter of Aphrodite that night. Asteria thought herself not yet ready for a night like that. Cathy had just shrugged with a smile, saying that she would always be there when that itch came calling.

Beyond acquiring new skills in self-pleasuring, Asteria also acquired skills in motherhood in that she could change diapers and potty train a child.

The Hunt was in Chicago on another vigilante stint, and Asteria wasn't up for the mass slaughter of scum, so she stayed behind with Artemis to babysit Amelia, the smallest Huntress. Well, Asteria says 'with Artemis,' but it was more like the goddess took a nap while the half-blood did the babysitting.

When she wasn't tired, Amelia was a ball of raw energy, and nearly outpaced Asteria in her shenanigans. It was a good thing Artemis had cleared out the entire top floor of the hotel, because Amelia and Asteria would've had the National Guard on them with all the chaos they caused.

The Hunt determined that they needed a week to finish their operations, as they had stumbled upon 'something big,' which left Asteria and Amelia together for all that time. When the toddler needed her diaper changed the first time, Asteria hadn't been particularly happy about wiping Amelia's dirty butt…or the second time…or the third time…or the fourth time. By the time Amelia had soiled her fifth diaper in the span of two hours, Asteria had enough.

She didn't know _why_ none of the other tried to potty train Amelia, she didn't know why Amelia didn't want to be potty trained, and Asteria cared not for any of it. Perhaps the Hunt thought it was cute; perhaps they had dealt with it for so long it was just another part of life; perhaps Amelia just enjoyed the attention she got.

Asteria didn't think it was cute.

Asteria was not dealing with it for decades or possibly centuries.

Asteria did not care if Amelia enjoyed the cooing and the baby talk directed at her when she was getting changed.

Asteria was _not_ going to be changing this kid's diapers for any substantial amount of time. Asteria hadn't been at all pleased during her quest when Annabeth almost fell into Tartarus, both wetting and messing herself, and she had to be the on cleanup duty, especially with Thalia off to the side with enough cum in her pants to make it look she had peed herself…on top of actually having peed herself prior.

So yeah, Asteria was not dealing with dirty diapers.

She had Amelia potty trained within four days.

While Lucy's previously cast spell protected the Huntresses from Asteria's telepathy, there was no such spell that protected any of them from Asteria's inner psychologist. Using a combination of subtle nudging and operant conditioning to get Amelia interested in the potty and to get her involved with it, Asteria became Super Nanny.

Amelia had no bladder or bowel control to speak of, so on top of everything else, Asteria had her and the child performing tandem exercises revolving around the pelvis. Asteria kept track of what Amelia ate and drank, simultaneously keeping an eye on the clock, so when it was time to go, she had Amelia on the toilet ready for business. This also taught Amelia how to respond to certain feeling around her tummy.

It worked smashingly, especially with the form of operant conditioning Asteria used.

When Amelia made it, Asteria made it out to be a huge deal, showering the toddler with praise and affection. It made the attention-seeking child bubbly and giggly, and she made it an effort to always get that attention. What really sealed the deal was the one time Amelia had an accident.

Asteria had given the child a very cold shoulder, retracting all feelings of warmth and praise from the child. While admittedly extreme, this was the driving force behind Amelia's potty motivation, because the sudden coldness of Asteria had straight-up _terrified_ the child, due to the sudden shift in extremes.

Still, when the Hunt returned from their vigilante mission, they found a proudly grinning Asteria standing next to an equally proud Amelia, who was all too eager to show everyone her new big girl panties. Simple cotton with Disney princesses everywhere. The Hunt collectively gaped in shock at how the new girl had managed to do what all of them had given up on.

When Amelia was asked how she did it, she proudly responded with, "Mommy helped me!"

That was how Asteria got her first baby.

There was more of course, there was always more. More stories, more adventures, more details. Maybe Asteria would write them down in a journal one day. The time of reminiscing was over, for news had come in, news coming from a dreary town called Forks. A group of hikers had gone for a walk through the nearby woods, and the found more than what they could have ever bargained for.

Bodies.

 _Skinless_ bodies.

 _Thousands_ of skinless bodies.

Thousands of skinless bodies all hanging by their feet from tree branches.

The MO definitely fit that of a Predator, something that all Olympians recognized, but this mass grave went way beyond that. Predators killed for a purpose, and they never killed _children_ , much less _infants_. Asteria recognized an act like that as something she used to do, which begged the question: was there a rogue Predator on Earth? Or were they dealing with something entirely different?

Regardless of the answer, the Hunt was dispatched to lead an investigation, with Artemis remaining on Olympus to watch over Amelia, as the child had no place in a death zone such as that, and the moon goddess knew for a fact that leaving Amelia with a nymph or servant would only spell disaster as the toddler would raise Hell and move Heaven to get back either to Artemis or Asteria.

So, it was with a heavy dose of Mist on the mortals did the Hunt begin their race for Forks from the deserts of Utah.

They would never make it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _May 17, 2007_

 _Sun Pass State Forest_

 _Night_

The Hunt stopped here to rest, in this area of tall, thick trees. After pushing three straight days of travel, it was the general consensus that it was time to make camp, and it was a decision Zoё wholeheartedly agreed with. Even the ancient demititan was tired.

Asteria could still keep going. She wasn't even winded, not that she needed to breath in the first place.

Around the fire did the Hunt sit, deer meat roasting on a spit over the flame. None of them chattered, for all of them were focused on the task at hand. Getting to Forks and finding out what in the name of Olympus was going on. Still, despite the lack of conversation, all had long trains of thought in their heads.

Was it a Predator? If so, was it male or female? Regardless of gender, what was it doing? What kind of hunt required so many bodies? Was it even a hunt to begin with, or something else entirely? Was it even a Predator? If it wasn't, then what could it be? What was there in Forks, Washington that could attract any extraterrestrial lifeform in the first place?

Of course, many had an inkling as to what could attract an interplanetary species, and that inkling walked on two legs and sparkled in the sun. It wasn't like the existence of vampiric covens was mere myth; in fact, there were many strains of vampire the world over, due to different viruses and mutations, but that was beside the point.

Were there vampires in Forks that attracted a Predator, or not? So many questions, so much mystery, so little to go on.

Asteria was so deep in thought, as were the rest of the Huntresses, that she didn't realize the threat until too late.

A wave of magic swept over the camp, bringing all the girls to the forest floor, their limbs heavy as mountains, even the likes of Zoё, Phoebe, Lucy, Asteria and Thalia, although Lucy looked more miffed than anything. Asteria herself fought against the magic weighing her down, but was met with limited results.

"I wouldn't do that, child," came an oily voice. "This magic affects all of you, and the more we have to use to hold you down, the more weight is used on them. Tell me, do you think they're as durable as you are?"

Whether this man was lying was irrelevant, because Asteria didn't feel like testing this magic and accidentally getting someone crushed. In fact, Asteria wondered why Naomi and Lucy hadn't broke out of this yet, as they were daughters of Hecate. Perhaps this magic also restricted their powers?

Focusing on the earth and her emotions over this situation, Asteria imagined a great shaking. Nothing happened. So, this magic was also restrictive in its function. However, it did not restrict Asteria's sensory abilities.

She counted a total of 37 large canines, most likely wolves, and one upright-walking creature: the man who had spoken. Speaking of, this man's bare feet came into Asteria's view, and he kneeled down so that he could look the daughter of Poseidon in the eye. He had dirty black hair, pure red eyes, scared skin, and his teeth were filed to points. He wore dirty, tattered pants, no shoes or shirt, but he covered his upper half with a cape of dirty, smelly furs that were stitched together randomly.

Asteria had never met this beast, but she knew who it was.

Lycaon, the first werewolf and self-proclaimed 'King of Wolves.'

The animal patted Asteria's cheek, but the weight of the magic was too much for her to even attempt to snap at him.

"You are truly a creature of greet beauty," Lycaon purred, running his finger—the nail longer than any drag queen's—along Asteria's jawline. She had enough freedom to hiss ferociously. "And feisty too. I like that in my women. It makes it all the more satisfying when I break them and they start calling me master. Alas, I cannot engage in such pleasures with you this night, for ones more powerful than I have requested your presence."

Lycaon snapped his fingers, and suddenly Aster and the Hunters felt immensely tired, most of them instantly catching some Z's. In her waning moments of consciousness, the daughter of Poseidon caught the last words of the werewolf.

"Grab the girls and let's go. We don't have time for anything other than movement. With that _thing_ hunting us—"

Asteria entered the world of dreams.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _May 18, 2007_

 _Nighttime_

It was almost a full 24 hours before Asteria awoke, and she was more disheartened to learn she was one of the last than to find out she was still a captive. She was bound in chains, Celestial Bronze. Whether she could break them or not didn't matter, because Asteria didn't feel like trying to use physical strength…she was just going to secrete some acid and let the metal melt away.

Or would have, had she not felt dead tired. It was impossible to drug her, so the only explanation was some kind of magic. With this level of fatigue, Asteria found focusing on anything to be a challenge, but not one that couldn't be overcome. Getting herself in gear, Asteria looked around.

The rest of the Hunt were bound in chains as well, only they were bound in groups where she was bound to herself. All of them looked like they were struggling to fight off sleep, except for Lucy. The daughter of Hecate looked calm and composed. Asteria had enough presence of mind to feel agitation with that girl.

The daughter of Poseidon heard the rapid pitter-patter of little feet, and she looked to see a young boy, probably eight, hastily bringing a plate of some kind of meat. The boy was small, with a frail, emaciated body, wearing rags for clothes. He had sunken eyes, and his hair had most likely never been cut since the day he was born, judging by how long it was. It was a dirty mane, matted with dried mud, twigs, leaves. He smelled just as bad as Lycaon did, but there carried with him another scent.

The scent of semen.

The boy trembled, but not from cold, but from fear. He took bits of the meat—jerky, Asteria realized—on the plate, and held them up to the Huntresses' mouths, feeding them. Even the staunchest manhaters opened their mouths as much as they could with how the magic affected them. The boy got to Asteria, and the plate was empty.

"I-I'm so-sorry," he stuttered. It was clear that this child was favorite cumdump among the werewolves, given his timid nature, the limp in his step, and the way his eyes constantly darted around, searching for threats. "I-I'll try to s-s-s-see if there's anything-anything l-left over-er."

He made to scramble off, but Asteria stopped him with a low keen. She summoned enough mental strength to reach out to his mind.

' _Who are you?'_

The boy blinked, surprised and off-guard at the mental intrusion.

"They-they c-call me bitch…but m-my name i-is A-Ariel."

' _Ariel?'_

"I-It me-means 'Lion o-of God'…"

' _You're a Christian?'_

"Yeah-"

"BITCH! What takes you so long to feed the whores!? Come, I need servicing!" It was not Lycaon, but someone else, another member of the pack.

Ariel paled. "C-Coming, s-s-s-sir!"

The frail boy gave a lasting glance at Asteria, before he limped off, clutching the tray to his chest with his arms in an X. Craning her head, Asteria got a look at her sisters, and saw what she expected. Horror, disgust, fury, with exceptions and variants of course…no doubt they had all heard, and no doubt they knew what Ariel's life was in the pack.

When Asteria broke out of this, she was taking that child out of here.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _May 19, 2007_

The pack was dragging the Hunt towards the East coast all the way across the U.S. Currently, they were in the forests of Idaho in the afternoon. The pack had stopped for another break, and it was Ariel that came to feed the Hunt once more. Apparently, the boy was forming a bond with Asteria, because after he fed the others, he lingered around her.

"What…what's it like…t-to be a-a member o-of a fam-family?"

Asteria was beginning to develop an immunity to the magic. She was getting stronger.

' _It's a wonderful thing. So many people love you, so many people are there for you. You can talk to them about anything, bring your troubles to them. If you need a shoulder to cry on, they're there for you. They're always there for you.'_

"Do you think…that Lady A-A-Artemis would l-l-let me-me-me—even though I-I-I'm a-a…?"

' _I'll talk to her, yes.'_

Ariel's eyes brimmed with tears. "Th-Thank y-y-you-"

"BITCH!" this time, it wasn't a call from elsewhere; it was up close and personal. The owner of the voice was a lumbering individual of great mass and height, and wore not but a smelly loincloth. "I require servicing…and they can watch."

Asteria decided that Lycaon was going to be the second werewolf she killed after she got her strength back, with this walking lard of a rapist being the first.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Next day, before the sun has risen_

Ariel came to the Hunters again, and Asteria could smell the blood that had dried against the backs of the boy's legs. His limp was more pronounced, and the broken look in his eyes was more pronounced. Still, when he got to Asteria, again having run out of meat for food, a little glimmer sprang to life.

He couldn't speak for his throat was too sore, but by now he had learned to communicate with Asteria via the mind. This link opened a can of worms that the girl had only felt with six other individuals. Bottom line, she _knew_ Ariel, knew his pain, knew his dreams and desires, knew his fears.

She knew that the tortured boy desperately wanted a life outside of this hellish pack…that he wanted a life with the Hunt as a girl, free from the memory and taint of being Lycaon's bitch. What does that say about a person when the only way they can see to escape the pain is a sex change?

Regardless, Asteria was going to have serious discussion with Artemis after this.

Perhaps it was a testament to the hybrid's power and confidence in her abilities that she wasn't at all concerned with the wolves and was more occupied with a conversation that wouldn't be happening until a few hours into the future.

A few hours because Asteria's divine physiology was almost completely immune to the magic affecting her, with her sluggish fatigue replaced by a whispering desire for a nap.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day went by quickly, with the entire time spent marching across the United States, led by a pack of smelly beasts. Through space-bending magic, the troupe had marched all the way down to the Medicine Bow National Forest of Wyoming. Night had fallen, and as Ariel once more came to feed the Hunters, all of them having grown accustomed to his presence now, Asteria finally got around to asking the question that had been nagging at her since the Hunt's kidnapping.

' _When Lycaon kidnapped us, before I lost consciousness, he said that you had to hurry before 'that thing' that was hunting you caught up…what thing?'_

Ariel paled, and through the mental link between him and Asteria, he shared the images. It was a jumbled mess of sights and sounds, like a poor shaky cam video. Something barely visible, a pair of flashing eyes, colored fluorescent yellow, a couple of bright blue bolts of energy, a clicking sound…and decapitations.

With her strength now almost back to its peak, Asteria shared these thoughts with the rest of the Hunt, and the consensus was that there was indeed a rogue Predator on the loose, and he was hunting Lycaon's pack.

Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Move, whelp." Lycaon stood above Ariel, red eyes glowing in the darkness. The boy hastily nodded, and then limped off into the night. Lycaon turned his crimson gaze to the Hunters of Artemis. "On your feet, whores. There is someone that wishes to speak with you, _especially_ you."

Asteria's eyes narrowed.

Thu Hunt got to their feet, a practice that had become easy over the days, and they collectively shuffled their way to the main camp, making sure to glare defiantly at anything that breathed and smelled worse than trash. In a large clearing, there was a fire just as large. Wolves lounged around the fire, enjoying the warmth, but upon approach of the silver-clad girls, they moved out of the way with snarls on their muzzles.

The fire roared up into attention, and two slits of darkness appeared in the wall of flame. The werewolves bowed in synch.

" **Ah, Granddaughter."**

Asteria glared defiantly at the fire.

" **Oh, where are my manners? Apologies, Granddaughter, I forgot that your body doesn't allow for convenient speech. Allow me to fix that for now."**

The fire pulsed with a heatwave that slammed over the immediate area. It was a wonder that trees didn't catch on fire. Asteria suddenly felt very different, especially in her throat area.

" **Can you speak now, child?"**

"…yes."

The Hunters' eyes widened when a completely normal voice came out of the youngest's mouth.

" **Excellent. Now we can talk like civilized people. Are you curious as to where King Lycaon is taking you?"**

King Lycaon…yeah, that had 'master manipulator' written all over it. But anyway.

"I'd imagine to the opposite side of the country where Luke and his allies are at, to try and get us on your side. Refusal to do which will result in our deaths."

" **And they say children of Poseidon aren't smart. Well done, Granddaughter. I don't expect you to have made a decision right now, but I suggest you do so before you reach Miami."**

"Go fuck yourself."

Kronos chuckled. **"Your limited vocabulary of vulgarity never ceases to amuse me."**

"Place thine lips about a phallus so that you may take it into your oral cavity, and apply suction."

"… **okay, that one was impressive. Regardless-"**

CL-L-L-L-L-CK

The entire gathering froze as familiar clicking reverberated throughout the clearing. Asteria's eyes nearly popped out of her skull as she registered the new scent. It was one remarkably similar to her own. But that could only mean-

BZZT

BZZT

Twin bolts of bright blue energy came flying out from the high foliage, and into the fire. The resulting explosion removed Kronos' presence from the flames, and Asteria felt her throat get weird again in that she could no longer speak like a human. Her head snapped to where those bolts had come from, but she saw nothing, not even the pheromone outline of any creature. Then she felt the vibrations of something heavy hitting the earth about fifty feet away.

Two yellow eyes flashed briefly before disappearing.

Then the bloodbath ensued.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **A mysterious figure has entered the fray, one that has been hunting the Werewolf King's pack for weeks.**_

 _ **How will the Hunters react to his existence?**_

 _ **How will Asteria handle her genetic clone?**_

 _ **What will be the fate of the child Ariel?**_

 _ **Find out in the next exciting chapter of**_ _ **Xenomorphic**_ _ **:**_

 **Cain**

 _ **Coming soon!**_


	33. Cain

_Cain_

 _ **I didn't ask a question about what you guys wanted updated last chapter, but since I figured you all would've wanted one, here you go!**_

 _ **It is finally time for the long awaited meeting between Asteria and her clone, Subject 3 Beta, aka Cain. Coming all the way back from chapter 25, the man of the hour is here to shit down some necks and kick some ass…and he's incapable of bowel movements.**_

 _ **I think this is going to be fun.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _May 20, 2007_

 _Medicine Bow National Forest_

 _Nighttime_

Cain, the name the hybrid had decided to call himself, did not know what he watching.

Since that amazing hunt in Washington, the hybrid had been remarkably bored, especially with the lack of worthy prey. So, he had eventually struck out, leaving his lair behind for a time as he hunted for more prey. By the grace of some deity, he had happened across a massive set of pawprints. Dozens of paw prints.

Wolves, mostly, with one set of human prints. Judging by the size of the wolf prints, these were larger animals, not as big as the ones in Forks, but bigger than your average _lupus_. Judging by the human print, it was a man, thirties, about 6'2 and 193 pounds. Further, based on the spacing of the prints, Cain determined that this pack was running, and they were running fast.

Why a human was travelling with a pack of wolves this big was a mystery to Cain, but it was one he intended to find out. With that, the hybrid set out on his next great hunt.

For months did Cain track this pack all across the continental U.S. From the forests of western Washington all the way to the Appalachian Mountains in the far east, the bayous of the South, the wheat fields of Kansas, all the way up to Oregon. There were a few times when Cain caught up to his prey, and he did battle with them, only it was not the pack itself but a few wolves, most likely sent to Delay him to as to allow the others to escape.

Unlike the breed in Forks, these wolves were smaller, but they were faster, had more numbers, and better coordination. Still, from early October to the present, Cain had singlehandedly cut the pack down to half its original size. While he couldn't bring his trophies with him, unfortunately, he did make several lairs across the continent that contained his prizes, safe and unseen from the public eye.

Never the she-wolves though, for they were needed to repopulate the game.

When Cain tracked the pack to northern Oregon, he noticed a drastic difference in the tracks. For one, they were closer together, indicating slower movement. Two, the distance between rest areas had decreased, indicating burdened movement. Three, there were exactly 20 sets of tracks that weren't there before.

All female, all very young, the sizes of the tracks indicating ages of about ten to seventeen. There were three distinct groups, two of six and one of seven, with a single girl, about thirteen or fourteen, by herself, in front of the female procession. How strange…Cain knew that there was a human male leading the wolf pack, with other humans sporadically popping up here and there within the rest sites, leading Cain to believe that the wolves were also shapeshifters, but why human girls?

Breeding, perhaps?

However, what were twenty girls between the ages of ten and seventeen doing in the forests of Oregon, _far_ from any human civilization, with no signs of camping equipment or vehicles within _miles_ of where they were presumably kidnapped. On the subject of breeding, at each of the rest sites Cain found and examined, there were no scents of sexual intercourse that lingered in the air, except for the same one that had been a constant since October.

So why did the wolves take a troupe of females, some of which weren't even old enough to be bred? And why put them into groups, presumably bound? Speaking of binding, from all the tracks and scents, the wolves hadn't even let any of the females away from their groups…last time Cain checked, females still urinated and defecated, yet there were no new scat scents at the rest sites.

So, were the wolves simply letting the females excrete upon themselves, presumably into their pants, or were they feeding them a menial amount to where their bodies burned through all of the given food and water due to the pace of movement, to where there was nothing left in their intestines to be broken down into urine and feces?

So much was unknown with the situation, so many variables, so many questions.

Cain felt that so many factors of mystery did not bode well for his hunt.

Although, perhaps the biggest thing Cain felt the largest amount of concern over was the single set of tracks belonging to the lone girl. Well, not so much the tracks themselves, which were barefoot as opposed to the other 19 which had boots, but the scent of the girl that made those tracks.

Cain didn't know what to do about that scent.

It did so many things to him, so many things that he didn't understand. The scent made him want to seek out its secreter, and protect and obey her, serve her and follow her commands. But at the same time, the scent drove Cain wild, wild with the desire to fight this girl and take this girl's head for a trophy…and the scent drove him wild with another desire.

The desire to mate.

Cain had never felt any desire to perform such an act with any creature. Hell, he had never even felt _attraction_ to any creature. All around him were potential prey to be stalked, and he couldn't breed with animals in the first place, and humans were so fragile that a single thrust from him, would liquefy the insides of any female that he bedded, just from raw force alone.

Then this scent comes along, bringing with it a whirlwind of responses.

Cain increased his pace that day, shooting down south to the Medicine Bow National Forest of southern Wyoming, fueled with the burning desire for answers to his questions and the skulls of the wolves.

Cain did finally catch up to his prey, which is why he did not know what he was watching.

The pack's leader was there, a man dressed in a fur cape, the pack was there, with a few smelly human males and females here and there, confirming Cain's shapeshifter theory, and the girls were there. All twenty present and accounted for, and they were, indeed, bound together by chains made of bronze. There was also a distinct lack urination and defecation smell coming from the girls, and, combined with their tired, fatigued looks, this proved Cain's earlier theory that the pack was scarcely feeding the girls.

 _That_ girl was there, the one with the scent that made Cain question so many things.

She was pure black, but not like those of African descent; her skin was a different shade altogether. She was naked, too, but her lack of clothing hardly mattered Cain. A long tail, segmented and spinal-like, sprouted from above her intergluteal cleft, and was similar to his own, only where hers ended in a sleek barb, his ended with a spike club. Four dorsal tubes emerged from her upper back, in between her shoulder blades, also much like his, only hers were slimmer, and the top tubes didn't curve forward. She was a thin creature, lithe, fit, built for agility and movement.

Cain couldn't smell it from her residual scent, maybe because it hadn't been prominent, maybe because he hadn't been sniffing for it, but with this now-close proximity, Cain could smell himself in that girl. Now his curiosity had reached dangerous levels, levels the like which cause men and women to do very bad things to get their answers, and remove any in the way between them and what they seek.

So when it became clear to Cain that the talking fire was a threat to his answers, he clicked in challenge, and immediately discharged two bolts from his curved tubes. The bolts exploded in the fire, removing whatever presence there was that affected the flames. Then Cain leapt through the air, bio-cloak active, and landed hard.

He locked eyes with the girl whom he had so many questions for, and his eyes flashed in surprise for a single reason: she had his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While the Hunt saw only the distorted image of an invisible creature, assuming to be a rogue Yautja, Asteria knew better. In fact, she knew so much better that she was in shock, for she could _smell_ the Predator, and while it did indeed smell like a Predator, it also smelled like a Xenomorph, and like the sea.

The creature smelled like _herself_.

"Everyone, attack! Attack!" Lycaon roared.

Even though the only sound was that of the crackling fire, the noise seemed deafening. Those in human form shifted to their quadruped state, and those already on all-fours charged recklessly at the distortion in the air. There were 31 wolves total, counting Lycaon and little Ariel. The magic that kept the Hunters tired and weak was still very much active, but it had no effect on Asteria.

The magic Kronos used, and the shock of whatever was happening right now, had given Asteria's body enough of a boost to make her immune to the spell. However, she did not break the chains. She wanted to watch, to assess.

The scent of a Predator had triggered age-old instincts in the Xenomorph hybrid.

The first wolf lunged, and was bisected beneath its ribs, splattering blood and guts over the distortion, painting it red. The second wolf was in the air a microsecond later, and it was also torn clean in half. The next time, five wolves all lunged from different sides, and that's when Asteria saw the distortion behind the distortion.

A tail, she realized.

The tail whipped about in a circle, bashing the skull of the first wolf, and then carried it around, slamming it into the other wolves. The end result was a quintet of canines being violently sent into the fire, causing the flames to roar up in hunger at something to burn.

With all the blood splattered against the creature's form, it seemed to realize the pointlessness in remaining mostly invisible…and became visible. Asteria had often wondered what she would've looked like had her gender not been switched and her face altered. Now she knew.

And she didn't know how to feel about this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cain did not feel like playing with these wolves, not when he had more important things on his mind, so he did the simple thing: he popped his wrist blades. Lighting flashed across the cloudless night sky, accompanied by a dull rumble of thunder.

The wolves collectively froze.

Cain fixed the fur-caped man with a challenging stare. The man gulped, "Retreat!" Cain may not have been in the mood for a drawn-out battle, but he was not letting the pack he had spent _months_ hunting simply run away. Even he realized the folly in that practice.

Cain's curved dorsal tubes glowed with bio-electricity, electricity generated by his own body in huge amounts, and he began to rapidly discharge bolt after bolt. The blue energy orbs flew straight and true, blowing apart wolf after wolf in clouds of red mist. The canines reached the forest, but Cain did not stop; he kept firing, using abilities he had discovered over time to track his targets.

Trees toppled, fires started, and explosion ripped through the foliage.

Finally, Cain stopped discharging his bio-electricity. There was only one creature left alive—well, two actually, but the child hardly constituted as something worth the trouble of killing, especially when Cain felt that he was on a schedule. The wolf leader came stepping out of the brush, and he looked remarkably furious for one that had just ordered a full-scale retreat.

"You just murdered my entire pack," snarled the man.

Cain just clicked, his mandibles trembling.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lycaon was beyond livid. There wasn't a word in any known dictionary that described the amount of emotion the Werewolf King felt. He had only ordered a retreat because whatever this thing was, was too powerful to just fight. They needed a plan of attack, a strategy, not an all-out assault with nothing to show for it but seven dead bodies.

It was all for naught.

Lycaon honestly believed that this creature would be more enraptured by the Hunters, especially Poseidon's little bitch, to worry about a retreating pack of wolves. Clearly, that was the wrong thing to be believe in, because now Lycaon's entire pack could be neatly squeezed into a plastic bag.

He was a king without subjects, without women to satisfy himself with. There was Ariel, yes, but there was something degrading about fucking a child, a male child at that. Why the others found the boy suitable for bedding, Lycaon never knew, but now it was irrelevant. At least he could for revenge now.

Lycaon snarled at the creature, bearing his mouthful of dangerous fangs. His red eyes picked up in intensity, and he bent forward, splaying his arms out wide. His cape fell from his shoulders, and his body began changing. Being the first werewolf afforded Lycaon a bit more power than his brood. Meaning, he didn't simply transform into an animal with four legs.

Lycaon's bones and muscles cracked and rearranged themselves under his skin, while thick fur sprouted from his every pore. His jaw elongated, becoming a snout, and his legs cracked as they changed to a quadruped like state—

The creature had its hand around Lycaon's throat, and hauled him into the air.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cain was having none of this shapeshifting business, so he was in front of his prey in a second, his powerful muscles propelling forward at several meters a second, and his powerful hand clamped tightly around the throat of the prey, and his powerful arm lifted the man high off the ground.

Being lifted did not stop the man from completing his transformation into a werewolf, a white-furred creature with milky eyes, but by then it was too late. After months of hunting, Cain finally had his trophy. With his free hand, he tore straight into the man's stomach, tearing straight through to the vertebrae, and he ripped out with all the force he could.

Bloody spine and glassy-eyed-and-furry skull dangled from Cain's hand as he lifted it to the black sky, and roared his triumph, his mouth opening wide.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Hunt watched, dazedly due to the magic, as the creature went to town on the wolves. Ariel had sought refuge in Asteria's side, while the girl herself stood there, content to watch as the creature did his do. A display worthy of praise, she thought. His strength was nothing to sneeze at, nor was his accuracy with whatever was on his shoulders there, and his speed was worthy of note.

That face, though…her face, but those mandibles on his jaw and those blades on his wrist…Predator…but that exoskeleton and that tail…Alien. Just what was this thing? Who was he? How did he get like this? Why did he look like her? How did his shoulder horns work? Why was his tail clubbed? What could he do? What _couldn't_ he do? Where was his penis?

…

Seriously, where his genitals were supposed to be, there was only a series of segmented plates like the shell of a lobster…perhaps those plates would slide upward into themselves and his penis would flop out? There were so many questions that Asteria had that she didn't even know where to begin…or if she should battle this creature.

Asteria concluded that this creature was somehow a mixture of Alien and Predator, but there was just enough Predator in him that triggered her fight instincts…and yet there was enough Alien that triggered her Queen instincts.

She wanted to fight this creature, beat him, dominate him, kill him, while at the same time, she wanted to reach out to this creature, bring him into her Hive, have him protect her and her children. There was another instinct as well, one that transcended those that demanded death or servitude, and it was one that demanded intercourse.

This creature's pheromones were shooting straight into Asteria's system, and her very core wanted him inside her. What was holding her back was the other two instincts previously mentioned.

Then this creature slaughtered Lycaon, taking his spine and head as what could only be a trophy…then he roared.

Ariel screamed in pain as his sensitive eardrums were ruptured. Asteria's chains snapped to pieces when her reflexes caused her hands to shoot straight for her ears, and her strength was not to be denied. The roar was so loud that it shattered the spell on the Hunt, and they all reacted to the extreme sound by snapping their hands over their ears, their chains not restricting them from that level of movement.

The creature stopped roaring.

Ariel fell to the ground, unconscious, blood spilling from his ears. The Hunt collectively looked at their surroundings with no small amount of trepidation, due to all the destruction and carnage about. Except for Lucy; Lucy was staring darkly at the creature's back.

Speaking of, the creature whipped Lycaon's spinal column about to where it was caught in the middle of his back, in between his dorsal tubes. Through a method unseen from this angle, the spine and head held put in positon. The creature locked eyes with Asteria…and he thundered forward.

Each step met the ground with a very heavy thump, and it got the Hunters' attention instantly. They turned, and fear gripped them, even Zoё, even Phoebe, even Thalia. The fierce look in those pupiless eyes, his alien physique, his poster, his gait, his very _aura_ struck fear into many. It was a ferocious aura, one that warranted no tolerance for anything. It was the aura of a fierce _god_ that had come down from Olympus to carry out a single purpose, and he would not be denied no matter what.

Asteria stood fast, sensing no danger despite the otherwise hostile intent. Even when the creature stood not three feet from her did she flinch or show any sign of backing down. Even when his massive hand clamped around her throat, brought her close to her face, and tilted her head from side to side as if taking measurements, she did not flinch.

This close, Asteria realized just how different their sizes were. He was a whole foot taller than she was, and he had the body to fill out his impressive height, with his muscles large and visible about his exoskeletal skin. The daughter of Poseidon realized something else as she stared into this creature's pupiless yellow eyes, and it was something that she realized only due to their contact which enabled her to _finally_ read his mind:

This was her _clone_.

"Get your hands off my daughter, you bastard."

So enraptured in each other were they, that neither hybrid registered the arrival of one very pissed off Poseidon. Cain, for that was what Asteria had gleamed her clone's chosen name to be, dropped her and whirled around, his tail missing the Sea God for no other reason than Poseidon willed himself to be intangible. Then he backhanded Cain away like a ragdoll, his face contorted into one of extreme fury.

Already, storm clouds gathered to block out the starry night.

Cain landed on his feet in a crouch, Lycaon's head flopping about. The hybrid did not look happy, especially with one of his mandibular bones missing. The wound on his face oozed the same exact liquid that ran through Asteria's veins, and it made Poseidon pause…

…which gave the angered Cain enough time to sprint forward at his staggering full speed, clamp his hand around Poseidon's throat, and sprint off into the forest, slamming the god through tree after tree, cracking divine bone with each blow against the massive towers of wood.

After about the fifth tree, Poseidon finally registered that stuff was happening, and his previous anger at seeing this _thing_ strangling his baby girl returned. The Sea God's eyes glowed brightly, and a pulse of energy erupted from him, knocking the offender away, and cracking every bones in his body, sending fragments into his internal organs, which would no doubt lead to death.

Far be it from Poseidon to hasten this poor creature's demise.

Cain hadn't really ever experienced pain. Even when that cold vampire had punched a hole through him, he still didn't feel pain. That was no different here. The only thing Cain could truly feel was his bones mending themselves and his internal acid sacs repairing themselves.

Cain didn't know who this stranger was, but he knew that it was a hostile— _a threat_ —and it would be dealt with accordingly. The threat came stalking into sight, and Cain streaked forward, this time intent on taking the threat's head. He got close, close enough to where his wrist blade almost touched flesh, but then everything went dark in a flash of green light.

Back in the clearing from so much earlier, Asteria could only be described as stunned. Stunned that her father would so suddenly appear, stunned that she didn't sense him arrive, but she was far more stunned by everything she had just learned about Cain, which was why when his unconscious body came sailing out of nowhere and landing just a few feet away from her, she reacted by summersaulting backwards with a feral hiss.

He father materialized a foot away from Cain's body, and his trident was raised to strike him down for good. Asteria's eyes widened, and her body _moved_. She didn't know what propelled her to attack, whether it be maternity, sorority, Hive mentality, or simply the burning desire for answers, but she _moved_.

Her fist struck Poseidon in the side of the head with such force that the poor Sea God was not only knocked into next week, but was knocked into a tree several meters away, where his body promptly splintered the bark, and caused the tree to collapse with him simply falling to the ground.

Then Artemis showed up, although why she was so late being a story for another time.

"Asteria! Stand down!"

The hybrid whipped around to face her cousin. _'Cain will not be harmed!'_

Artemis recoiled slightly. "Cain?"

Asteria's tail moved to where the blade pointed at the massive heap of unconscious body. _'Cain will not be harmed.'_ Her mental broadcast was accompanied by an extremely deadly warning hiss.

Artemis raised her hands in a placating gesture. The behavior she was witnessing was eerily reminisce of a mother alligator. "Alright. Cain will be not be harmed, I swear it on the Styx—" thunder rumbled— "now we need to handle what's happened the past few days. In Oregon, you vanished from sight, and none on Olympus could find you."

Poseidon came to with a groan, and he stood to his feet, rubbing his jaw. "Ow…you have a lot of explaining to do, young lady."

' _His name is Cain, and he was created by the same people from the School using my DNA and DNA from a creature that was a cross between a Predator and an Alien…a Predalien, if you will. He's my clone.'_

"What does that make him to you then, daughter?"

' _That's what I intend to find out myself.'_

Poseidon nodded uneasily, visibly uncomfortable with this new revelation that his daughter had been cloned. With a wave of his hand, the Celestial Bronze chains binding the Hunt vanished, and they all began rubbing their sore spots. Artemis nodded gratefully to her uncle, before she and him began to glow brightly, a clear indication that they were preparing to transport all those present to Olympus.

The Hunt closed their eyes in preparation; Lucy stared with obvious distaste at Cain; Asteria kneeled over her clone, a myriad and cacophony of emotions running rampant through her. She didn't know what to make of this, didn't know how to handle this, didn't know how to deal with this. Cain was a mystery—and un unknown.

And what was unknown to Asteria Jackson would not remain so for long.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **One could say this is a cliffhanger, and for that I'm not sorry. This was the second update of this story in a short time, which means it will be the last update for a while. Still not sorry. After this, it's**_ _ **SoJ**_ _ **, then**_ _ **Backup Plan**_ _ **for a very long time.**_

 _ **Alright, so Cain and Asteria have officially met, and neither have the slightest idea of what to make of each other, due to way too many chemicals and hormones and pheromones running wild through their bodies. More on that next chapter, when things happen, and**_ _ **Sea of Monsters**_ _ **officially begins.**_

 _ **I thought Lycaon's death was rather satisfying, and rather original, since there was no drawn battle of epic proportions involving a werewolf. Oh, and the idea behind Lycaon's werewolf form came straight from William Corvinus.**_

 _ **And how about Daddy Poseidon coming in to save the day…after the day had already been saved. Gods have terrible timing.**_

 _ **Oh, and what should be done about Ariel? My original idea is to have him be like Siproites and ask Artemis to change him into a girl so that he can be a lot closer to Asteria. Your thoughts?**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	34. YLC Lexington

_YLC Lexington_

 _ **I'm back from my conference guys! Woke up at 3:30 on Sunday morning and got home at 10:21 Thursday night. Spent over seven hours on the bus. In the event that this fic is up for years and years to come, I want it to be known that the Conference lasted from June 11-15 of the year 2017.**_

 _ **I know that after a week of no updates, a long Author's Note is not what anyone wants, but this conference…I feel that it needs to be talked about.**_

 _ **During the conference, we got to listen to a POW who spent six years of his life in the 'Hanoi Hilton,' an economist with a PhD, a judge, another judge, this one having escaped communist Russia and is Jewish, a retired Marine Captain, several members of the Coast Guard, and a retired general from the United States Army.**_

 _ **Now, bear with me as I fail to get my thoughts in any semblance of an order.**_

 _ **The POW told us about how he was tortured for information, kept in a cell with no light or air circulation, and about how he and his fellow prisoners developed a communication system of tapping, but wasn't Morse code. Obviously, he made it out alive, and after his presentation, we got the opportunity to ask questions. I asked him two: what do you think is wrong with the government, and what do you think of President Trump.**_

 _ **The first one got a laugh because the XO of the conference, the second in command, said we only have a few minutes not a few hours, bit anyway. The POW didn't give a straight answer on the government question, but this is what he said about Trump:**_

"I like him. He's doing what he can to change this country for the better, and no one likes him because he's trying to change things. That's why the media does nothing but criticize him and paint him in a bad light. Even though this is a country of free speech and opinion, everyone seems to have forgotten about respect. You may not like Trump, but he's still our president. If Hillary had won, I wouldn't have liked her one fucking bit, but I still would have given her the respect the president deserves."

 _ **I interviewed him in private for that and took notes.**_

 _ **The economist was a great guy, I liked him. He had us do an activity regarding a reservation wage and entrepreneurs looking to hire people. The majority of the class was looking to be hired, with a few people doing the hiring. Now, the problem was that the entrepreneurs were only looking to hire for a certain amount, and those with reservation wages that were too high didn't get hired. I had a reservation wage of $12.50, and couldn't hired for shit, no matter what sob story I came up with.**_

 _ **Starving family, war veteran, sick parents, anything. These bastards just wouldn't hire me on for at least $13 bucks an hour.**_

 _ **This exercise was meant to teach us about negotiation and the power of profit. See, the more the entrepreneur had to pay us, the less money was in their own bank account after payday, so of course they would only hire the cheapest of labor. This was also an exercise used to reflect the real world.**_

 _ **I asked myself: are these entrepreneurs just greedy bastards then, looking to line their pockets, or were they simply men and women like the rest of us trying to do the best they could for their families and themselves in a world of cruel competition?**_

 _ **Moving on, I asked the economist a single question: do monopolies exist today.**_

 _ **He said yes.**_

 _ **Now, when one thinks monopoly, the game is the first thing to come up, but for those that know of the Gilded Age of America, you guys know that monopolies are like Standard Oil, Trusts, and the Northern Security Rail Company. Those kinds of monopolies are the kinds that drained competition, and made themselves the only ones to buy from.**_

 _ **It would be like Walmart if they put Target, Brookshire's, and Kroger out of business and left only themselves as America's grocery store.**_

 _ **The economist told us that monopolies exist today in that the monopolies are controlled by the government. He said that corporation would go and lobby the government to pass certain regulations. These regulations wouldn't destroy competition, but it would limit what other competition could do. In this instance, the corporation in question now has less competition to fight, and more opportunity to make money.**_

 _ **Since it's the government that passed these regulations, it's the government that controls the monopolies.**_

 _ **The first judge that came presided over a mock trial regarding the sinking of the Titanic and a suing, grieving wife. I think it was a real trial at one point, but I don't recall; the trial was handled in a way that left half the class asleep and bored.**_

 _ **While I forget the trial itself, I do not forget what I thought of this trial. The people that made the Titanic claimed it was unsinkable, yet it sank, many people fucking died, and they were sued for it. My cynical nature revealed to me what I found to be a dark truth: these companies know they fucked up, they know that they went wrong and cost people their lives, destroying families, and instead of owning up to this, they do everything they can to keep every single penny they have in their pockets.**_

 _ **I like to think of those people as greedy scum, but I suppose the counter argument to that would be that the companies need their money too, so they can pay their workers and provide for their own families. To quote Cutler Beckett:**_

"It's nothing personal, Jack. It's just good business."

 _ **The cruel world of corporation.**_

 _ **The second judge to come in didn't preside over any trials, but she gave us a bountiful wealth of information. She came from communist Russia when she was thirteen, travelling across Europe before finally making it to the USA. I forget what she said about her childhood, because it was what she had seen as a judge that caught my attention.**_

 _ **When she ran for her current position, of which I forget, she had a single opponent. She didn't give his name, but she said that this man used intimidation to keep other potential judges out of the game. This man intimidated her as well, saying that if she ran for judge, he would ensure she would practice law ever again. That convinced the second judge to run even harder, campaign stronger.**_

 _ **She won, of course, but the message I got from this was corruption. This man, this intimidating judge, used his reputation and reach to make sure he was always at the top. I wondered that if he did this, how many others did the same in our country?**_

 _ **The second story the judge told us was of her time as a juvenile court judge. She told us of her most 'interesting' case. There was a boy, thirteen, who was in court for curfew violation. The judge asked him why, and he said because it was rude to smoke around his momma. The judge felt a little relief in that, seeing a bit of light in the situation, and she told him that it wasn't good to smoke tobacco.**_

 _ **The kid freaked out and said:**_

"I wasn't smoking tobacco, I would never smoke that around my momma!"

 _ **We all got a little confused, but most of us quickly picked up what he was really smoking. The judge asked him this, and the kid said that he was smoking pot. As it turned out, his mother was a drug dealer…so yeah. The judge moved on from there and gave him his curfew time, and the kid asked if this applied to the weekends. The judge got confused and asked why that was relevant.**_

"My girlfriend's pregnant and I need to make sure she's okay."

 _ **Keep in mind that this kid is thirteen, smokes pot, his mother's a drug dealer, and said girlfriend is**_ _ **fourteen**_ _ **. Not a word was said anywhere in there about a father, and it went without saying that the everyone thought this kid was black.**_

 _ **I was able to pull aside a buddy I had made, and we talked about some stuff. I brought this up, and we both agreed that it was just fucked up in general, and it was fucked up how, just based on what was said about this kid, that everyone just knew he was black. It was a stereotype, my buddy said, an unfortunate one, but still. We talked about more things, and then we got to the System.**_

 _ **What is wrong with America to where a mother has to sell drugs to get by? What is wrong with America to where a thirteen year old smokes pot and is an expecting father? What is wrong with America to where seventy young men and women, upon hearing this story, all assumed the kid was black?**_

 _ **I told my buddy that when a System becomes so fucked up, so broken and corrupted like it is today, like a checker board in which neither party could see a move to make because of how muddled the board is, the only way to fix the System, to fix the board, is to wipe the board clean and start again.**_

 _ **Granted, we can't exactly just wipe out the American government and establish something new overnight, but still. Something needs to change.**_

 _ **Anyway, the judge said she kept up with the kid, and she told us that the birthing went off fine, he stayed in school, graduating high school with an education, stayed with his girlfriend, and now has a job to support all three of them. I'll think of that as the proof that not all hope for America is lost.**_

 _ **The Marine Captain that spoke to us was an older gentleman. Regrettably, I forget what he said, for at this point in the day, it being 4:30 in the afternoon and me waking up at 6:00 in the morning after hours of previous lessons and lectures, was irritated and fatigued. However, at the end of the conference, I spoke to him one on one and thanked him for his service after shaking his hand.**_

 _ **He looked me in the eye and said:**_

"I've been watching you. Out of everyone here, I think you're the only one that can make it in the Marines. If you ever think about joining, give me a call and I'll get everything in line."

 _ **I said thank you, sir, and I sat down at my table, pondering that. I personally have no intention of joining the military, much less the Marines (sorry to that one guy that reviewed thinking I was in the military; your salute is flattering, but sadly misplaced), but damn. This retired captain thought that I could do it, and offered his services to help make it happen…so yeah.**_

 _ **The Coast Guard members came in and talked about the stuff they did, their area of jurisdiction, the things they'd seen. I got to talking with one man, and he said that slavery today was higher than it was back when slavery was legal. Granted, the modern slave is a woman crammed into a shipping crate and not someone from Africa, but still.**_

 _ **I asked how he felt about that, and I saw his eyes dim. He said that in the beginning, it was horrible, terrible, disgusting, and it made him angry to know that it happened. But that was in the beginning, and he told me how it was in the present. He said it was nothing to him now, he said he was jaded to it.**_

 _ **He said it used to be like 'Oh my God! This is horrendous! This needs to stop now!' to 'Oh look, another human trafficking crate. Let's get this over with.'**_

 _ **I asked how he felt about Trump and America today, and he said that he stood with Trump, saying that the President was trying to push America back in the direction of God, trying to clean up the government. The Coast Guardsman said that, with the mess that Obama left to clean up, Trump was doing a good job. That's what he said, so please, for the love of God, do not start a political debate in the Reviews. Thank you.**_

 _ **Now, we get to the general, and this where things need a little more prior information.**_

 _ **When we got to the conference, we were all separated into different groups, and each group had their own jobs that needed to be attended to. My group was saddled with the responsibility of greeting and introducing all of the guest speakers and then saying a few words when their time was up. Well, after giving my groupmates their respective speakers, I ended up with introducing the general.**_

 _ **I got up to the podium and realized that my notes were not at all with me or within arm's reach. So there went Plan A. Plan B was to recite what I had from memory, and it would have gone great, if not for all the adrenaline suddenly coursing through me, which rendered me a stuttering mess. However, I persevered, and said aloud that I wasn't about to give up, because I'm an American.**_

 _ **I got applause for that one.**_

 _ **This is what I said:**_

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we welcome a true American hero. This man was drafted in the February of 67, and was deployed to Vietnam in the July of that same year. In the February of 69, he left the military and continued to serve our country from the National Guard. Duty would call again, and he would be directly commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant, where he would go on to serve valiantly for over 30 years. It was in 2005 that he retired with the rank of Brigadier General. During his career, he was awarded with the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and numerous others. However, it is not only brawn that this man brings to our country, but brain as well. He is a graduate of the Army War College, and has an MBA from St. Edward's University. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand and join me in the welcoming of our guest of honor, Brigadier General Jim Bisson!"

 _ **Only add more stuttering and broken speech.**_

 _ **What the general spoke about is lost to me, as I was far more preoccupied with how much I just bombed that introduction. However, I remember vividly that the general handed us all a lemon, or at least the people around us a lemon, and he told us to get to know that lemon before putting it in a box. Then a member of our group had to go find our lemon. It wasn't hard, there were several landmarks on the lemon, and the message was simple as it was cliché.**_

 _ **That was all the events of the conference, now on to the slightly more personal stuff.**_

 _ **I said that we were split into groups, and those groups were named after the planets. There was Mercury, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Neptune, and my group, Jupiter. Each group had about somewhere between nine and thirteen members in their group. At the end of the conference, we all exchanged numbers and we have a group chat going. It's an endeavor of ours to meet back up one day, although how that'll happen is beyond me. One of our members lives in fucking Oklahoma for God's sake.**_

 _ **Anyway.**_

 _ **This conference was a conference of leaders, meaning that all of us were privately interviewed during the school year, and were chosen to attend. On Wednesday, the groups had to pick amongst themselves who the group leaders were, and Jupiter Group chose me.**_

 _ **With six groups, there were six 'Leaders of Leaders,' as I liked to call ourselves. The XO, the general, and three of the councilors took the six of us to a private room elsewhere on the Lexington, and interviewed us all as a group. The question they asked and our answers are unimportant, because the point was that night, during the banquet, they did not pick me as Top Leader.**_

 _ **I got with the XO at a later time and asked what set the winner apart from the rest of us, and he said he wasn't at liberty to discuss the deliberation between himself and the others…most disappointing answer of all time, but anyway. I didn't let it bog me down, and I shook hands with the Top Leader, smiled, and wished him the best in life.**_

 _ **Wednesday night, they let us all stay up late, giving us till 12:30 to get in bed…not the best when you have to get up at 6:30 to pack your stuff. Anyway, with all this time given to us, we all got in little groups and toured the ship. And when I say 'toured the ship,' I mean we went past the little yellow chains that said Authorized Personnel Only.**_

 _ **Of course we didn't find government secrets or private meetings or anything out in left field such as that. All we really found was dust, dirt, darkness, and enough rust to give you Tetanus just by looking at it. In the first area we explored, we found an old ladder that led down into a void. Me, being the adventurous idiot I am, went down that ladder…and found nothing but emptiness, dirty water, and dead cockroaches.**_

 _ **Most places were like that actually, just old, untouched, and waiting to be attended to. Although, in one room, an old berthing area left to time, I opened a cabinet and found a set of keys. Nothing major, just two little padlock keys on a string. I took them for myself, my own little treasure from the bowels of the**_ **U.S.S. Lexington** _ **. I wonder if those keys were truly just forgotten trinkets, or if someone is desperately looking for them…oh well.**_

 _ **With two of my bunkmates, we explored the fine details of atheism and religion.**_

 _ **My first bunkmate said he was an atheist, but not the kind that profusely believed in science and hated God, the idea of God, and people that worshipped God. No, he was the kind of atheist that used to believe, but something happened in his life to where his faith died.**_

 _ **He told me that when he was younger, he watched as his parents argued and yelled with one another, before eventually splitting up in a hateful divorce. He told me that he lost his faith because he couldn't believe that God would just stand there and let that happen…he also told me that since he once believed in God, he also believed in Satan.**_

 _ **I told him that it wasn't God that let his parents fight and divorce, I told him it was the work of the Devil. He just shrugged, and we moved on with our evening, content with our beliefs.**_

 _ **My second bunkmate overheard our conversation, and he jumped in himself. He said that he wanted to believe, but he had doubts. The question he asked me was that if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and that he knows what we are going to do no matter what, do we truly have free will?**_

 _ **I did my damned hardest to answer to him, but for his expectations and standards, I came up short. Our debate ended up attracting half of our side of the berthing area, and they all went into their attempts at convincing my bunkmate that we had free will, but I could tell that he wasn't convinced with anyone's argument.**_

 _ **What I have to say about that, for anyone here asking that same question, is that it all comes down to what you will believe, and what you won't believe. I believe that, even in the face of an omniscient and omnipresent being, we have free will to do as we want, when we want, and how we want to do it. Of course, there are limits to what we can do. I'm not about to fly to the moon, and you probably aren't going to jump fifty feet in the air.**_

 _ **Also, just because we have free will, does not mean it's okay to kill a man. That's why we have laws to govern free will, so that we don't live in a society of anarchy and violence…all evidence to the contrary.**_

 _ **Now, you're probably asking is there a point to all this beyond telling us all how my vacation went, and the answer is yes.**_

 _ **Each fold of the American flag has a meaning to it. For those that already know this, you can skip it. For those that don't, please keep reading.**_

 _ **The first fold is symbolic of life, the second is symbolic of the belief in eternal life. The third is honor the veterans retiring from the military, and the fourth represents the weaker nature of humanity, and that it is in God that look to for guidance in times of peace and war. The fifth fold is made in tribute to our country, and the sixth is for our heart, the heart which we place our hand over during the Pledge of Allegiance to this country. The seventh fold is done in honor of our armed forces, and the eighth is made in the name of our mothers. The ninth fold is performed for womanhood, in the name of their faith and love and loyalty, and that it was in these things that the men and women of this country were molded by. As the eighth fold is made in the name of our mothers, the tenth is made in the name of our fathers. The eleventh and twelfth folds of the flag are done in the name of religion, with the eleventh representing the Hebrew God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelfth representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.**_

 _ **When the flag is completely folded, the white stars of purity stand proudly against the blue hope of the night sky, representing our country's motto:**_

In God We Trust

 _ **I find that to be a source of irony, honestly. In a country that allows for freedom of religion, no matter what, be it Christianity, Judaism, Catholicism, Muslim, Wicca, Satanism, atheism, scientology, etc., that the motto of this country revolves around trusting a single being.**_

 _ **I ask myself what it means to be an American, and I debate that if this country trusts in God, then part of being an American is believing and trusting in God, and those that do not, whether they are atheist or otherwise not a believer in God, cannot truly call themselves Americans.**_

 _ **However, the counter to that is that there's more to being an American than religious faith, or lack thereof.**_

 _ **During the conference, they had us fold a piece of paper a certain way, and cut it. When we unfolded it, we had made a perfect five-point star…assuming you folded everything correctly. On this star, they had us write down what we thought it meant to be a patriot. This is what I wrote:**_

Patriotism is adhering to the principles of the American Creed, believing that that government is created by the people, for the people, of the people, and all of us are a united people, be they gay, atheist, Christian, Muslim, Catholic, or Jewish, under God.

 _ **I believe that part of being an American is recognizing that this nation was founded on the principles of the Bible, and that our Founding Fathers put their faith in God. Before anyone grabs their torches and pitchforks, I want you to know that I am not condemning atheists and other pagan religions. I am merely stating my beliefs.**_

 _ **When I say the American Creed, this is what I mean:**_

I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop my whatever talents God gave me—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refused to barter incentive for a dole.

I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand, erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say—'This, with God's help, I have done.'

All this is what it means to be an American.

 _ **My favorite part of this is the very beginning, where it says that it is my right to be uncommon. I like to think that applies to every community of America, from religion to Furies, ABDL to LGBT, and beyond. If it's what you like, go ahead and do it.**_

 _ **One of our unalienable rights is the pursuit of happiness, so if it's reading a Bible, or Quran, or Torah that makes you happy, go for it. If it's dressing in a cartoon animal suit, more power to ya. If wearing a diaper brings just a bit more light to your life, wear a diaper. If being lesbian, gay, bi, or trans puts a smile on your face, then keep smiling.**_

 _ **Only, do everyone a favor, and pursue your happiness in private. There is no need to make people uncomfortable in public, no need to draw attention to yourself, and no need to end up on the news with a headline like**_ 'Gay couple murdered after kissing in public.' _**Although, if you feel the dire need to engage in exhibitionism, please, for the love of all that is sacred, have some tough skin.**_

 _ **No one wants to read on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or on the news about how insulted you got when you were dissed in public for wearing a Furry suit.**_

 _ **Now, far above these lines of texts that may or may not have been read, I told you there was a point to all this and then proceeded to launch into the Flag Folding Procedure. At the very end of the conference, just before we got our bags and loaded up the bus, we were given the Final Challenge, and that Challenge was to continue to lead off the ship, and lead in life.**_

 _ **On the way down to the bus, I felt a void inside me, this huge pit of emptiness. This pit was created by the ending of the conference. We just spent the past four days undergoing sleep deprivation followed by more learning and interaction than four weeks of school, learning about America, the government, patriotism, economics, and what the American flag truly meant…and now what are we supposed to do?**_

 _ **Start a blog about government corruption, lies, and secrets? Start a hometown organization about patriotism? Join the military and fight for the country? Become a politician, or lawyer? Just…what the fuck are we supposed to do, man? Sleeping in and blearily waking up in the morning just to spend the rest of the day on the couch or with a controller in hand definitely isn't the answer. So what is the answer?**_

 _ **My answer was over four thousand words.**_

 _ **I can see how many people look at my fics per update, and there's generally a few thousand people that read said update. I know that a few thousand is just a few drops in a country of several hundred million, but that's still a few thousand people that I've reached out to.**_

 _ **That's still a few thousand people who have read this, and have asked themselves their own questions, formed their own opinions, created their own ideals and beliefs. That's a few thousand people I've lead down a path that's made them think.**_

 _ **And that's good enough for me.**_

 _ **During the conference, I gave a few people my pen name so they could look me up. Whether they will or won't is in the hands of not me, but if they stop by, and they do read all of this and have gotten down to here, then I want to say to those people:**_

It was a blast, guys.

 _ **To close what it is probably the longest author's note ever written, this goes to everyone that has read this, no matter what walk of life they come from, no matter what they believe, no matter what they've done in life/plan to do in life, no matter about anything that makes them who they are:**_

Find for yourself what it means to be an American, and may God be with you always.


	35. One to Call Mother

_One to Call Mother_

 _ **I find it fitting that, after ending**_ **Backup Plan** _ **with**_ **Xenophobic** _ **, it's only fitting to kick off a new slew of chapters with the fic that arc is based on.**_

 _ **Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to**_ **Xenomorphic** _ **!**_

 _ **And we're diving headfirst into the second book of Uncle Rick's hugely popular Greek mythology series.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP…God, it's been too long since I've had to use that disclaimer

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She stared into those pupiless yellow eyes, assessing the creature before her, safely bound inside a divine holding cell. He was sitting on the floor, cross-legged, back straight, arms folded across his chest—much like that of a proud Native American chief—and his tail lay on the floor, loosely wrapping around him.

He stared back at her, staring deep into her own slitted, poisonous green eyes.

Even though Asteria knew what he was, she did not know what he was to her. Obviously, he was her clone, created by the school using her pre-transformation DNA, and the DNA of a creature Asteria didn't know was possible: a hybrid between Xenomorph and Yautja, a Predalien, as it were.

Where the School got such a creature, whether it was still alive, where it was being held, and how it came to be in the first place were all questions Asteria knew would forever go unanswered, unless she actively sought out a facility and combed through their records for any inkling of such a project, but her curiosity with such a subject was not great enough to kick start such an endeavor.

No, instead her curiosity wanted to satisfy other questions, like were there more clones of her, where were they at, were they also hybrids of alien life, or just common recombinants like so many other experiments?

But before any of those questions could be thought about answering, Asteria couldn't help but…study…Cain. Evaluate him. _Marvel_ at him.

He was a full foot taller than she was, and was packed with muscle. More than likely, he was stronger than she was, but more to a comparison of physical stats, she was most likely faster and more agile than he was. His body was like hers, with the black, exoskeletal armor, the dorsal tubes, the extra sensory abilities, the tail, the claws, the acidic blood, the interior acid sacs that replaced all internal organs, the spewing mechanism at the back of his throat, his translucent teeth, his fangs, his super human abilities…so much was identical.

His face was exactly like hers. Take away the splayed Yautja mandibles and corresponding exposed tendons, bones, and muscles that stood out from his cheeks, and you had the perfect visage of Asteria's brother. Granted, he was a male, and his face had the appropriate traits of a male, but if you had the two hybrids stand next to each other, they would be so identical it wouldn't matter.

Speaking of traits, Asteria took special note of Cain's armaments.

He had a tail, like hers, one that was spinal like, long, segmented, with cords of muscle in between each segment that could extend for dozens of meters, and it could secrete acid. However, there was a great difference between Aster's tail and Cain's, and that was the tip. Aster's tail ended in a sleek blade, perfect for piercing, stabbing, and impaling, but Cain's tail ended in a thick club, one adorned with ferocious spikes, perfect for crushing, breaking, and shattering.

She was finesse, he was brutality.

Then there were their arms. The only similarity was that they could both fire their claws as projectiles, and then watch as new claws calmly slid into place. Beyond that, everything was different. Asteria's arms were typical of a girls', slender, lithe, but with enough muscle to not be considered dainty, but Cain's were ripped, packed with big muscles, and looked capable of crushing rocks—which, all things considered, was a very real possibility—and to top everything off, was the cancerous growths on his forearms.

One could've been forgiven for thinking of them as tumors, but that was far from the case. No, what adorned Cain's arms were sheaths for his own personal wrist blades. With the right flexing of his wrist, he could trigger a nerve that would trigger muscles in those growths to cause his blade to pop out, ready for battle. Those growths also doubled as cleaning stations and forges. When inside, the bones that were the blades underwent a chemical process that repaired damage and removed dirt.

Quite fascinating stuff, really.

Their dorsal tubs were the next thing Asteria's eyes traveled to. Hers were straight and splayed, as was Cain's, only his upper tubes curved up and over his shoulder to point forward like a set of horns. Asteria also knew that those horns, while still functioning as a way for him sense bioelectric signatures like her own upper tubes did, his could also discharge concentrated bolts of his own body's bioelectricity, to seriously lethal effect.

How that was possible was a temporary conundrum, until Asteria focused a bit harder on Cain's head. More specifically, his 'hair.' Like her own, his hair was not hair at all, but a means by which to communicate, although his, like his upper tubes, served a secondary function, and that was simply to generate the energy needed for his bioelectric cannons.

Asteria also found it highly interesting how, due to his hair's shape and the way it was arranged, it gave him more of the domed head look that Xenomorph's were infamous for than Asteria had.

Thoughts of the species she was sliced with caused the girl's thought process to diverge to the caste system.

Xenomorphs were all inherently female, hermaphroditic in some genetically altered strain, but still primarily female. This was so that, if necessary, a lowly Drone could evolve through the caste system into the Queen necessary for the continued survival of the Hive. Because of this, there weren't any males. The Hive had no place for males.

And yet here a male was.

While Asteria had yet to start a Hive, and she doubted she would until her body entered puberty (which should within the next year, otherwise she was a late bloomer; she was thirteen after all), she still thought of herself as something within the nonexistent Hive. In her youth at the School, when the Fates were masquerading as the three Queens, she saw herself as their Praetorian, and even after their revealed fraud, she still thought of herself as the Praetorian, the only female Praetorian, the only Praetorian period, and there was nothing to challenge that position.

But now Cain was a factor.

He was a male within a system comprised of females. Was he supposed to be submissive, lower than a Drone? Was he supposed to supersede the Queen, being the King? Was he an outlier to be killed and destroyed? Was he the only one worthy of mating with, and bearing children? Was he supposed to be like a super Praetorian, never evolving but always being there to protect the Queen?

Asteria bared her teeth and hissed lowly as so many answerless thoughts passed through her mind. Cain responded by having a small episode of low clicking, and that's when Asteria realized that, for all her study and observation, Cain had been doing the exact same thing.

The thought was an interesting one, meeting a relatively unknown entity only to find that he not only looks like you, but thinks like you too.

Asteria was not alone outside of Cain's holding cell, and her hiss drew the attention of those around her…the entire Olympian council, and little Ariel. At her hiss, the sexually abused boy pressed himself into her leg, frightened, and Poseidon gripped his trident.

"Do you want me to kill him?"

The Sea God was still not happy with what the mortals had done to his baby girl, and he was even less happy to learn that there was a genetic clone of her walking around, and gods know how many more.

Asteria gave her father a flat look. _'No, I do not want you to kill him. I don't want any of you to kill him, or even touch him.'_

Had the air not been so tense, Apollo or Hermes might have very well cracked a sexual joke, but they wisely kept their mouths shut.

"Why not? He's only a living example of the abominations the humans did to you."

' _You are entitled to view it as such, Father, just as I am entitled to view it in my own way.'_

"And what way is that?" Athena asked neutrally.

Asteria focused back on Cain, locking eyes with him. Their eyes narrowed at each other. _'I don't know…but I will find out.'_

Honestly, what was he supposed to be to her? Popular media suggested that, as her clone, Cain should be seen as her son, and that was definitely out of the question. Other popular media suggested that because they were clones, they should have seen each other as siblings. Okay, that was more viable, but their biology disagreed. Having ingested the scent of the other, their bodies told them that the other was a prime source for mating, but even that wasn't the whole case. Another instinct drove Asteria to kill this unknown anomaly, while another drove her to study him like a specimen.

As she thought about these things, Cain was doing the exact same, having the exact same thoughts.

As their trains of thought were the same, they both came to the same conclusion that their qualms and questions of standing could only be decided by one singular thing:

Combat.

The winner would decide how the system worked, and that would the end of it.

However, a battle to the death was not a viable option at the current instance in time, and would therefore have to be postponed until the opportune moment presented itself. Asteria wanted to give Ariel a new chance at a new life, and apparently something had happened at Camp Half-Blood to where the enchanted tree was poisoned, and now all the campers were threatened with unrestricted monster attacks, and Zeus wanted the Hunters there ASAP to provide additional defense while a quest was organized to find something to strengthen the barrier.

Hence, why events needed to get underway, and the issue of Cain x Asteria would have to be put on hold.

For now.

Asteria peeled her gaze away from her clone. 'There are other things that need attending to. Let us attend to them.'

The gods who had no pertinence to the coming situation flashed away to perform their own things, which left only Poseidon and Artemis to be with Asteria.

The Sea God frowned. "I dislike the idea of conducting business in front of...him."

Everyone's vision became shrouded in green light, and Cain clicked in annoyance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The trio found themselves not at Camp Half-Blood, but at a very beautiful beach that was arguably better than Camp Half-Blood. There was also no one around, nor any civilization, and that made Asteria feel strangely comfortable.

But, like Poseidon said, business.

The sea's child, placed a caring hand on top of Ariel's head, and smiled down at him with all the love of a mother. _'Ariel, this is my dad, Poseidon, and my cousin, Artemis.'_

The Earthshaker smiled warmly. "Hello there."

The Moon Goddess also smiled, this one a rare maternal one typically reserved for the younger maidens and otherwise traumatized individuals, usually girls, but not even Artemis was so unkind as to show negative emotions to a young boy. "Greetings, Ariel."

Both deities had long since been informed of Ariel's story, and while revolted and disgusted as they could be, neither were...twisted up about it. After being alive for over four thousand years and seeing the worst of humanity and beyond, Ariel's case of pedophilac rape was but one of millions, and there would be many millions more. In essence, Artemis and Poseidon were highly desensitized to the horrors of monsters and others.

That being said, Asteria was much the same.

The boy acted on his childish impulses and buried his face into Asteria's leg.

' _Hey, now. None of that. Say hello.'_

Ariel turned his head enough to where his eye and his mouth was visible. "Hello."

Then he hid his face again, causing the gods to chuckle and Asteria to gain an exasperated look. _Children_ , she thought to herself.

"Ariel," Artemis said, "Asteria tells me there's something you want to ask me."

The child looked up at Asteria, his eyes swimming with uncertainty, trepidation, fear, and hesitance...just like any child would when having to talk to strangers, never mind said child being an introverted rape victim and the strangers being literal gods.

Asteria played her role of reassuring maternal figure well. A kind a smile, sparkling eyes, and a firm hand on Ariel's back. _'Go on. You can do it. Ask your question.'_

Poseidon saw the look on his child's face, and was reminded so strongly of Sally that it almost hurt.

Ariel swallowed heavily, and took a few hesitant steps forward. He stared at the ground and poked his pointer fingers together repeatedly. Apparently he had seen an anime and picked up the behavior from one of the characters. "Um...I wanted...um...to a-a-ask if I...I could...ifIcouldjointheHunt!"

He shut his eyes tight and his whole body visibly tensed up in preparation for verbal and/or physical rebuttal, but it never came. Cracking an eye open, the little boy saw only calmly smiling faces.

"Of course you can join the Hunt," Artemis said with more warmth than Ariel thought possible outside of anyone except Asteria. "But you know that only girls can join my Hunt, yes?"

"I know...and that's okay."

"You understand what I am going to do you, yes?"

"Uh-huh. I don't mind."

The cruel reality of the situation was that due to constant rape at the hands of the other werewolves, and their constant demeaning and misgendering—using female pronouns—Ariel's conventional understanding of the differences between girls and boys, beyond anatomy, was nonexistent. In his traumatized and damaged mind, he was already a girl, and what Artemis was about to do to him was pointless and redundant.

The Moon Goddess exhaled a cloud of silver, and the cloud moved to envelope Ariel in its embrace, obscuring him from view. There was more to this ritual, however, than simply switching his anatomy around. As Ariel's body changed, so too did his memories. Asteria wanted him to have a new life, free from the trauma of Lycaon's pack, and the biggest part of such an endeavor was memory alteration.

Not so that Ariel would forget every single detail, which would create a massive gap in his memory that would have to be filled, but the rape would be done away with, being a boy would go too, and the only things that would be left would basically amount to having a rough life with the pack, only to be liberated by the Hunt and subsequently asked to join.

To which Ariel would readily accept.

The silver cloud faded, and the girl blinked a few times. She didn't look any different, aside from her clothes being changed to a silver tank top and a pair of black soccer shorts with silver trim, with her previous appearance being that tremendously androgynous, and her body was just the same. However...she turned around and beamed at Asteria.

"Mommy, I'm a Huntress now!"

With that, she launched herself at Asteria with her new strength, and wrapped her arms and legs tightly around the hybrid. Asteria had a brief flashback to the Underworld when Annabeth's mind had rebooted and she had called Asteria 'mommy, and how foreign that had felt. It still felt wrong to be called that by a child only a few years younger than herself, but in light of the situation, Asteria had one singular thought:

' _Role with it.'_

And so she placed her arms under Ariel's butt to provide better support, and smiled. _'Congratulations! Now we can go hunting together.'_

Ariel giggled, a far cry from her introverted self just a few hours ago. "And yeah, and talk about smelly boys, too!"

Asteria looked at Artemis, who smiled innocently. The hybrid kept her eye role to herself, and promptly wiggled her finger against Ariel's ribs, causing the child to squirm and giggle.

"S-Stop i-it, Mommy!"

Meanwhile, Poseidon was pale. "Mommy..."

Artemis patted his shoulder. "Congratulations, Uncle. You are a grandfather now."

"Grandfather...I am too young to be a grandfather…" he looked at his niece. "If you ever say that again, I will turn you into a man."

Artemis froze.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For what they had just gone through, being drugged by magic, bound in chains, held hostage, and dragged across the country by a werewolf pack led by Lycaon, the Hunters were remarkably chipper. In fact, they were more emotional about being told they were going to Camp Half-Blood than when they had woken up from their magical acid trip.

The most chipper being little Amelia, because as soon as Artemis arrived via flash with Asteria and Ariel with her—Ariel being held on Aster's hip—the little tot came scampering out from the morning throng of packing up with an exuberant shout of mommy.

Much to Asteria's annoyance. Why was she being called mommy all of a sudden?

Much like Ariel had, Amelia leapt a full twenty feet, and Asteria caught her with her free arm. The toddler promptly planted a very wet kiss on Asteria's cheek. "I missed you, Mommy!"

'… _I missed you too.'_

Due to her superior-than-an-eagle's vision, allowing her to see perfectly in all directions regardless of focal point, Asteria saw her sisters all sharing conspiratorial grins…except for Lucy. But Lucy never smiled, so there was nothing out of the ordinary there. Still, it was now obvious that the Hunters had convinced Amelia to think of Asteria as 'mommy.'

Give her a few more years and that term would be endearing. Right now, being called mommy by an eight year old and a five year old was…it made Asteria feel strange. Tingly all over. Her gut flipped. Her brain told her: not yet.

Like being looked upon as a maternal figure would be perfectly fine…in the near future; not right now though.

Still, Asteria kissed Amelia back and listened to the resulting giggle with fondness. _'Hello, Amelia. Have you been behaving?'_

"Yes, Mommy. Who's this, Mommy?"

' _This is your new sister, Ariel.'_

Amelia squeed. "Sissy!"

Ariel, who once would've shied away from such exuberance if not outright ran away from it, beamed right back. "Sis!"

If not for her incredible strength and balance, Asteria would have been toppled by her daughters reaching across her body to glomp each other.

The Hunters watched the display with fond smiles, and some of the more mellow among them, such as Jess, Sarah, Bertha, Naomi, Celyn, Bethany, Amber, Victoria, Atalanta, Esther, Cathy and a few others, all 'awed.'

Artemis smiled as well, but there was business to attend to.

"Girls, as you all know," Ariel and Amelia dropped to the ground, still hugging, "Camp Half-Blood's boarders have been weakened, and monsters are attacking with increasing boldness. Father has decreed that we are to go and provide Dionysus with additional security."

There were many groans.

"Now, now. Look at it like this: with the number of monsters on the loose, all of you will have plenty of things to shoot at, distract you from idiot boys, and keep you busy. Before you know it, we'll be back out here hunting down hydras."

The ambient mood lightened considerably.

"Now, finished getting ready. I'll flash all of you there in twenty minutes. And Asteria? Keep track of your children, please."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria was excited. Excited to be back here, at Camp. Excited to see Silena, Drew, Clarisse, Beckendorf, Lou, and the Stolls. She was even excited to see Annabeth again, eager to learn about how the daughter of Athena had been faring these past nine months with her new attitude and outlook on life.

However, in this current moment in time, Asteria was far more excited over the opportunity to do battle with a pair of Colchis Bulls.

The rest of the Hunters didn't even get a chance to draw their bows before the sea princess was streaking off, a shit-eating grin on her face at having a decent challenge on her face. Unfortunately, due to not having any worthy whetstones around to measure herself against, Asteria…did not know the new limits of her powers.

No, she did not get knocked away by the Colchis Bull like an annoying gnat. Instead, when she lowered her shoulder and blindsided the Bull with all the form of an NFL linebacker, she blew straight through the metal contraption, armor plating, interior gears, and all, like the Bull was no more than a tackling dummy.

Asteria pouted in disappointment at her supposed challenged being so easy to take down.

"Holy Hades…"

' _Hey, Clarisse. How have you been?'_

"Um, good…BEHIND YOU!"

Oh yes, Asteria knew the second Bull was coming for her back. Seriously, you didn't have to be geo-sensitive to feel the tremendously heavy hoofbeats of the incoming automaton, near did you have to have super hearing to hear its bestial grunts. Anyway, when the Bull was close enough, Asteria whirled around, her hair whipping about her, and she stopped the bull dead by grabbing its horns.

Momentum caused the monster to go sailing in an arc, the telepath serving as its focal point. Clarisse's eyes widened, and she rolled out of the way with impeccable speed. She would've been crushed had she not moved. Asteria adjusted her grip on the horns in her hands, and, even with the Bull behind her making this an awkward angle, she hauled the Bull over her head, hauling something that weighed more than the average Super Duty, and slammed it into the ground in front of her. Not done, she spun, whipping the Bull around her, before slinging it into the sky.

' _Thalia!'_

The daughter of Zeus responded on instinct. Her arm shot out, fingers pointed at the airborne bovine, and a bolt of lightning erupted from her outstretched hand. The deadly arc met the Bull in less than a second, and the entire thing went up in smithereens. A few blackened bolts and nuts fell to the ground from out of the blast cloud.

Asteria looked back at the stunned daughter of Ares with a grin. _'So…how ya been?'_

Still dazed from the telepath's sudden appearance and subsequent strength display, Clarisse's answers came as distant. "Good…"

' _How's Silena and Beckendorf?'_

"Pretty sure they've screwed…"

' _And the Stolls?'_

"I'm going to kill them for that prank."

' _Lou Ellen?'_

"Still practicing witchcraft…"

' _Drew?'_

"Annoying as ever…"

' _And Annabeth?'_

Clarisse snapped to attention, and her eyes were…filled with fear and anxiousness. Asteria felt dread creep into her.

' _Clarisse. What happened to Annabeth?'_

"Uh…um…it's best…if you see it for yourself."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Horror was not an emotion Asteria could feel, as it fell under terror, and terror fell under fear, and fear was not a chemical her body could make anymore. However, she could feel revulsion, disgust, and anger. Boiling anger. White-hot rage. Unbridled fury.

She felt all three of those at once, and she wasn't entirely sure why she felt such emotion given what exactly she was looking at, and her ignorance at her own feelings was a sizable chunk of the cause for her current state, but other causes included the firing of Chiron (in hopes of drawing out the poisoner), and the bringing-on of Tantalus in his place. Asteria had yet to meet the horrid man in person, but she knew that the Hunt was going to avoid him like a plague, and that the Campers despised him.

A big reason for this extreme negative was right in front of Asteria, and all of this tied directly back to why she was so pissed off.

McKayla, Annabeth's big half-sister was the only thing there to vent this rage on, so she had the unfortunate displeasure of being slammed against the wooden wall by a tail, almost suspended off the ground, the blades of said tail threatening to cut into her lower jaw.

' _You fucking have thirty fucking seconds to fucking verbally explain to me what the fucking fuck I'm fucking looking at, before I fucking tear into your fucking head and fucking rip the fucking memories out, fucking leaving you as a fucking vegetable for the rest of your fucking life!'_

Being ADHD, an errant thought floated through McKayla's head, _'I think she just set a new world record for f-bombs in a sentence…urk!'_

Asteria took exception to this wandering train of thought, and pressed tighter with her tail, hissing so low the vibrations caused the Big House to shake. The cause for Asteria's extreme ire lie just beyond the two-way mirror, in the padded room in the basement of the Big House.

It was Annabeth, now thirteen, going on fourteen, just like Asteria, only…it wasn't Annabeth. What was in this padded cell was a snarling beast that looked like the daughter of Athena. Her hair was dirty, frizzy, and matted. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, unfocused and crazed. Her upper body was bound by a straightjacket, and her legs were left bare. Around her waist was a diaper so soiled, the tapes looked to be barely hanging on. More than likely, Annabeth was suffering both from a diaper rash and an infection.

Her behavior was just as bad as her appearance. She stomped around her cell, grunting, growling, snarling, barking, groaning, hissing, and making all kinds of unsightly noises. Her lips were peeled back, and drool and saliva freely dripped from her mouth. Her movements were jerky and jittery, like a cornered animal's. Her smell was strong, and gag-worthy to anyone, even through the steel door and the window. Asteria had seen behavior like this correspond to rabid Erasers, and that in and of itself triggered feeling of hate and rage.

The hybrid didn't know why she felt so strongly for Annabeth like this, and she wanted answers, but she also wanted answers as to what the fuck was going on. She lessened the pressure of her tail so McKayla could speak. And speak she did.

"It started just a few weeks ago, when a new son of Ares arrived. She got attracted to him, somehow, and she started going off into the woods with him. One day, out of nowhere, the kid just disappeared, and that's when I noticed Annabeth started acting strange. She stopped taking showers, stopped brushing her teeth, and when she had her period, she didn't even seem to care that she was bleeding through her pants.

"She started wetting her bed, too, and having accidents during the day. Her eyes got more red and puffy, she stopped eating and drinking, showing up for activities, refusing to leave her cabin, everything. We though she was just getting a real bad case of breakup blues, so we brought her to the infirmary for a checkup…and that's when we found the scars. She had been cutting herself without us knowing about it.

"We took her knife away, and that's when she became like…what she looks like now. Worse she started trying to kill herself, banging her head against everything, strangling herself, throwing her body around wherever she was, which is why she's in a padded room wearing straightjacket."

' _And the fucking diaper?'_

McKayla swallowed as best she could, given the veritable sword at her throat.

"She still had to eat, and whenever we tried to feed her, she would attack us, so we eventually just started sedating her and force-feeding her. Of course, we knew she was still going to have to use the toilet, and she was still going to menstruate—"

' _So you diapered her!?'_

Asteria's tail increased in lethality.

"N-No!" Mckayla croaked. "We were going to build her a special room, one that had a slanted floor, one with plumbing and a drain in the middle, one that could be flushed from walls to drain all the waste, and we going to leave her naked from the waist down, but then Tantalus showed up after the borders started failing because the tree was poisoned."

' _What does Tantalus have to do with any of this?'_

"Since he's been here in place of Chiron, he has all the power and authority that comes with being Camp Director, and the magic of the Camp obeys him, and if it comes down to it, he can use that magic however he sees fit. Somehow, he learned about Annabeth liking to wear pull-ups from time to time, and he learned of her condition and our idea for a solution, and _this_ was his idea. We argued, but he invoked Camp Half-Blood's magic, and we were forced to submit. Asteria…Annabeth's been wearing that diaper for over a week now. Tantalus won't let us change her."

McKayla was dropped to ground, and while she was sucking down oxygen, she was not so occupied as to not register Asteria storming away. You didn't have to be a telepath to know what she was about to go do.

"Wait! Aster, he's still a Camp Director! If you kill him, you-"

The daughter of Athena was bulldozed into the floor, pinned down by an angry creature not of this earth. McKayla felt true fear and shut her eyes tightly as she felt the warm saliva of Asteria drip down the side of her face, and heard the low hiss resonate just millimeters away from her ear. She swore she felt Asteria's fang actually touch her pinna.

And then the girl was gone.

McKayla cracked an eye open, and saw her slowly retreating into the shadows, her eyes pure black, her lips trembling slowly, saliva dripping from her open maw, her translucent teeth glowing…before she disappeared completely into the darkness.

"Hissssss!"

McKayla flinched and whipped around to face the two-way glass that provided visual entry into Annabeth's cell. Her face was pressed to the glass, and she was making a noise eerily similar to Asteria, even making a similar facial expression. And that's when McKayla realized something with a heavy sense of dread and terror.

All this time, Annabeth wasn't simply acting like a beast, she was _emulating_ one…

She was emulating Asteria.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Camp was not deserted, but they were all gathered in the amphitheater. All of them, every single one of them, even the Hunters, and _all_ of them looked furious, even Amelia, Ariel, and Sarah, though the Hunters' ire stemmed more form the fact that they were being forced to attend this meeting than what they were hearing. The Campers were all ready for blood at what they were hearing.

Tantalus was busy reading aloud his written-down new set of rules for the Camp, as he had spent the past two weeks coming up with them. Now, as everyone had been gathered in the amphitheater, no one saw Asteria approaching, but, due to how Camp Half-Blood's amphitheater had been built and designed, they all saw her enter…and they could feel her anger.

At what, none of them knew, some had theories, of course, but all knew what that look on her face meant; they had seen it before two years ago the night Annabeth had blundered.

Asteria had come here to kill, and everyone barring the new/younger Campers knew the consequences for killing a Camp Director, but none of them were fast enough to stop the girl. However, their panic—such as sharp gasps, whispers, shouts, screams, people standing up—caused Tantalus to cut himself off mid-speech and turn around to see what the commotion was about.

"O, well if it isn't the gender-confused daughter of Poseidon. Don't think you'll get any special privileges here because your daddy is—"

 _SQUELCH_

The world went silent when Asteria's tail impaled Tantalus right through the stomach, erupting from his back in a spray of blood. She grabbed his arm, and began to yank him along the length of her tail, each jerk accompanied by a pained howl, until they were face to face. Asteria didn't waste any time with a meaningful stare or a one liner. Instead, as soon as Tantalus was close to her jaws, she opened as wide as she could, her muscles allowing her to open her mouth to a point where she could probably fit an entire NFL football in there…and she attacked Tantalus' face.

In a single bite, one accompanied by the wettest, crunchiest, juiciest sounds ever, her jaws cleaved through over 75% of the mythological figure's skull. What hadn't come out in her mouth fell out of the gaping hole in his face. Then, with a brief screech of effort, she tore Tantalus clean in half with a wet ripping sound, and the rest of his insides went flopping to the ground.

Asteria didn't care that she would be banished from Camp for this, she didn't care that probably just traumatized a bunch of children, nor did she care that she had basically ousted herself as a monster in front of her sisters and daughters.

Her daughters…

Asteria saw them looking at her from their places in the Hunt's circle, sitting next to each other and holding hands like siblings, and they were just looking at her…in joy? Not horrified, not disgusted, not freaked out, not crying…but joy? Like children who had just watched their mother beat up some one for being mean to them—

Damn.

Then it all clicked. It _all~_ clicked. The way she felt about Amelia and Ariel, and the way she felt about Annabeth. These feelings of protectiveness, of love, of anger at one of their dispositions…it all clicked. Asteria accepted it now.

She loved Amelia, Ariel, _and_ Annabeth like they were her own daughters.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Was anyone expecting that to happen, Asteria embracing her maternity?**_

 _ **I did. I wrote this chapter.**_

 _ **I hope it was a terrific return from so long of a break.**_

 _ **To recap: Cain is being held in an undisclosed location inside a magic holding cell, biding his time. He and Asteria don't know what to make of each other, but they know the best way to figure it out is to beat each other senseless. Ariel, the werewolf pack's personal cumdump and semen rag, has decided to become a Huntress with her memories of her horrible life altered just a tad, and she loves to think of Asteria as her mother. Whether that's because of Artemis' magic or Ariel's natural view of Aster is up for you to debate amongst yourselves. Amelia has also jumped on the Mommy Asteria train, and whether that was because of the Hunters or her own views about the hybrid are up to you to debate as well. Now, things get dicey.**_

 _ **The son of Ares was indeed Ares himself exacting revenge on Asteria for his defeat at her hands, by stabbing at Annabeth, who he saw as the most vulnerable target, and, as McKayla observed, rendered the young demigoddess as a primal mirror image of Asteria, albeit one with all the functions of the human body. Now, as for her siblings, it was either let Annabeth urinate and defecate all over where she was being held and potentially let her ingest her waste as she tried to kill herself (Ares' doing) or try to keep her waste contained. They went with diapers because that was a viable option, and they fully intended to change her when necessary. Tantalus' presence shot that idea out the window, which caused the above results.**_

 _ **No, Annabeth being crazed will not be permanent, yes, she will also come to see Asteria in the same way Ariel and Amelia do, but the solution to this problem will not be so easily solvable, something our dearest Lucy realizes to the fullest. Perhaps she can offer medicine in exchange for something…**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	36. A Mother and Her Sick Child

_A Mother and her Sick Child_

 _ **Well, I do believe that was a great response to the previous chapter after such a long break, and you guys are lucky that I wanted to write another chapter for this before moving on to the others. So here you go, my devoted cult.**_

 _ **Deviation from canon, feats of an overpowered nature, and Asteria fully embracing her new role as a mother to a trio of girls...all of which whose names start with A. Did you notice that?**_

 _ **Anyway, time for character interaction, dialogue, and dead people!**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dionysus really needed something strong to drink for the ensuing nightmare, so, exploiting the loophole in his restriction that said he couldn't do anything with wine, he conjured up a ten gallon jug of moonshine. Then he downed the entire thing in ten seconds flat, and belched for his troubles.

His cousin continued to stare silently at him. It was clear that she didn't have a care in the world for what was about to happen to her, nor did she have an ounce of regret for what she had done. Dionysus respected that, in his own way; it made him feel fuzzy on the inside when he saw a parent go to such great lengths for their children.

Still, he had a job to do. Part of being Camp Supervisor.

At least they were in the privacy of the Big House's living room, and no one else was around.

"As per the rules of this institution, created and made valid by Almighty Zeus upon the inception of this institution, anyone who should raise their hand in any way against this institution's leading director, supervisor, or otherwise figure of authority, will be punished with no less than banishment, upon which the term for this banishment will be decided by an Olympian or a council of Olympians, but the term can be no less than half a decade, and any other punishment the Olympian or council of Olympians sees fit.

"As I am acting Camp Supervisor and Olympian Council Member Number Twelve, I have ample authority to handle this matter as I see fit, and enforce any punishment and consequence I deem necessary. Now, as per the law, I have no choice but to banish you from the grounds of Camp Half-Blood for five years...effective within a month of this day. The added punishment, as per your actions prior to this meeting, is that one Annabeth Chase is now your responsibility and your ward until otherwise specified by the Olympian Council as a whole."

Dionysus conjured another ten gallon jug of moonshine and drained it in less than twenty seconds this time. His subsequent belch nearly blew apart the Big House.

"I personally don't know why they brought in Tantalus of all creatures, but I suppose it doesn't matter now. He's not here anymore and his remains have already been scraped away. Now the problem I face is a bunch crying brats. Thank you for that, cousin. I think I'm going to turn you into a dolphin for the trouble you've brought into my life."

' _Are we done here?'_

"Yes. We are done here."

Without any more telepathic conversation, or even any gestures of farewell, Asteria spun on her heel and headed for the basement. Dionysus ducked under the swinging tail to avoid getting whacked in the face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria observed Annabeth pace around her cell, snapping and snarling, biting and growling at unseen phantasms. She had accepted her feelings for the child less than an hour ago, and because of that, she felt great amounts of grief, hatred, and deep concern for Annabeth.

Grief that the once bright daughter of Athena had been reduced to a rampant beast with no control over herself; hatred for this son of Ares, who was no doubt Ares himself, for what he had done to her, playing with her feelings and emotions, causing her to become like this; and concern for the girl's wellbeing, both mental and physical.

No doubt the diaper around her waist, which had been there for over a week, and bread bacteria and brought disease to Annabeth, and there was how this was going to be fixed. A god couldn't do it, as per the Ancient Laws, and there was a magic surrounding Annabeth's mind that prevented Asteria from simply going in and fixing everything like she had done in the Underworld. But, even after this matter was resolved, what would Annabeth be like?

She was a prideful girl, with hubris as her fatal flaw, and having memories of this kind of event would be the most humiliating and traumatizing thing ever conceived. She could very well shut down, retreating within herself, she could become suicidal, trying to take her life, or she could be permanently damaged for the rest of her life, the mental scarring being too much for even a god to heal, even Apollo.

The human mind was a fragile and delicate thing.

Asteria frowned, burning up inside over her ability to do nothing...no, that wasn't true. There was one thing she could do to better provide for her child.

Looking to the side, she saw all the changing supplies the children of Athena had intended to use before Tantalus' brief reign started. Diapers, wipes, powder, lotion, a changing table with restraints, changings mats, suppositories, enema bags, gloves, everything even remotely related to caring for an older incontinent child with a mental disability.

If Asteria had any qualms about deciding to undertaking the task of changing a diaper, she didn't show it. Grabbing the necessary supplies, she used her tail to open the steel door to Annabeth's cell. With the door open, the full brunt of the horrid smell inside wafted out, and Asteria was thankful for the fact that with muscular control, she could decide when she wanted to use her nose to smell things.

Annabeth's attention snapped to Asteria when she entered, and her entire demeanor changed. Her snarl dropped, her eyelids drooped, and a calm settled over her, like a child throwing a tantrum at daycare would be soothed by the presence of their mother. Her grunts became small, quiet gurgles, and her bestial nature was replaced by one comparable to that of a small child's.

Asteria set down the mat, and it became clear that not all of Annabeth's intelligence was gone, because she walked over as best she could given the bulk between her legs, and then flopped down, about a full foot away from the mat, gurgling happily. Asteria rolled her eyes as her child just displayed a deliberate sense of defiance by intentionally plopping herself away from where she needed to be.

So Asteria simply grabbed Annabeth and dragged her to the mat, and the blonde just giggled the whole time. With a roll of her eyes, the telepath held her squirmy child down with a single hand while she moved everything to a more easily accessible position. After that, she ripped off the tapes and examined the damage.

Poop, everywhere, obviously, as well as yellow and red stained padding wherever there wasn't a sea of brown due to urine and blood. Annabeth's skin was red and swollen, a clear indication of diaper rash, not that Asteria hadn't already predicted any of this. No, the biggest problem was much worse than diaper rash, but was directly related to it.

Yeast infection.

It was a wonder that Annabeth wasn't screaming her lungs out from the pain.

Not one to put things off or hesitate without due cause, Asteria set about changing Annabeth's diaper, pulling the soiled one away and setting it aside, then proceeding to go to town with the wet wipes, to which Annabeth squirmed and made noises of discomfort. When a wipe had been used to capacity, Asteria put it in the soiled diaper and grabbed a new one, then repeated the process.

When all offending matter had been cleared and the only thing left was irritated and infected skin, Asteria picked up the water bottle she brought with her, opened it, and poured it all over Annabeth's nether regions. Then she began to rub the area, using her powers to perform what could have very well been written in the Bible as a miracle.

Using her divine power of hydrokinesis, she cleared out all traces of infection and rash, leaving only clear, unblemished skin.

Annabeth blew a couple of spit bubbles out of her mouth.

Now clean and free of anything otherwise damaging to her physical health, Asteria applied the powder, sprinkling it everywhere she deemed necessary, before firmly rubbing it in, to which Annabeth squirmed and made an incessant moaning sound. She was still a teenage girl, unfortunately, and the area in which powder went was also a female's primary erogenous zone.

After that was done, Asteria calmly grabbed the diaper she brought in with her, unfolded it, held Annabeth's legs up and slid the new diaper underneath her. She finished off by bringing the legs down, bringing the diaper up, and taping it on securely and snuggly.

' _There. All done.'_

Annabeth squealed in delight and wriggled around excitedly. Asteria smiled in amusement at the infantile behavior, but the smile was but a shield, a shield that kept her true feelings over the matter from the outside world.

This was wrong. This was a thirteen year old girl who would be fourteen in a few months, reduced to a babbling, infantile mess with most of the mental function of a baby. Further, this was one of the brightest daughters of Athena of the current century, even amongst her brothers and sisters, a demigoddess, one that could wrestle grown men to the ground with near ease, could use a knife to cut through monsters in the dozen, and take down multiple opponents at once in a sword fight.

The entire image at work here was wrong, twisted, sickening, revolting, pitiful...and Ares' fault.

 _All. Ares'. Fault._

Asteria's anger consumed her, and she bolted upright, folded up the soiled diaper and all the wipes therein, gathered the supplies, and stormed out of the cell. She threw the diaper in the designated trashcan, and didn't bother with putting the supplies back in their proper places, just throwing them in that general area. She was about to storm up the stairs and go to the forest to vent her anger, when a small, scratchy voice said quietly:

"Mommy…"

Asteria's anger melted instantly when she heard that. She hadn't shut the door behind her, so when she turned around, she saw Annabeth in the entrance, on her knees, a look of distress on her face as she looked longingly at Asteria. Something told the telepath that, if she could, Annabeth would have been reaching out to her.

Asteria scooped the child into her arms, hugging her tightly to her body. Annabeth yawned, before resting her head on the hybrid's shoulder, and closing her eyes. She didn't immediately fall asleep, but she did wrap her legs around Asteria. The sea princess, placed an arm under Annabeth's butt, wholly ignoring the diaper, and was content with holding her daughter, as any mother should have been.

Annabeth snuggled as close she could, and then she was asleep. Asteria slowly lowered to the ground in the entrance of the door, and leaned against the side. She slowly stroked Annabeth's head, lamenting the entire situation.

' _You poor thing. You just liked wearing pull-ups from time to time, now you're stuck in diapers until I fix this.'_

In this newfound peace, Asteria recalled all the other times she had been in a situation like this, holding a little girl to her after changing their diaper. Angel was the first to pop into her mind, since the School's sole motivation behind toilet training was so that they didn't have to keep changing diapers, but still; toilet training was rather difficult when you spend your time locked in a cage without a potty and being experimented on.

More times than not, Angel had been wearing a pull-up, and Asteria was often the one who had been there to console her after the occasional accident. Eventually, Angel did become potty trained, mostly through telepathic contact with Asteria, but the School wasn't exactly big on bathroom breaks. Honestly, it was a miracle that the rest of the Flock wasn't wearing protection, but the School wanted to clean up messes about as much as the average parent, and Marian didn't want the crown jewels getting sick from an infection of some kind.

The second instance Asteria recalled was much more recent, being less than a year ago, and it was when she babysat Amelia for the first time, and the five year old pooped her diaper. Asteria wasn't about to deal with that for the foreseeable future, and so she had the toddler potty trained within a week, and nighttime trained within the next five days. Fun times, fond memories.

The third time Asteria recalled she had been in a situation like this, was a little over two years ago, and it had been with the same girl she was currently holding. It was about six weeks into Annabeth's punishment, and the Stolls spiked her breakfast with laxatives and diuretics, which they had done before twice already, but this time Lou Ellen wanted in on the fun, because she had discovered a new spell that she wanted to try out.

The spell in question? _Alvum repleo_.

Latin for 'bowel refill.'

What it did was self-explanatory.

Of course, just minutes before breakfast ended, the additives did their thing, and Annabeth was wracked with cramps so bad she didn't even hesitate to beg to go potty. Unfortunately, her current babysitter was Clarisse, who was highly fond of making Annabeth wait till the absolute last second before taking her to the bathroom.

Annabeth ended up having an accident, like so many times before, only this time, her bowels didn't empty themselves, or rather, they couldn't empty themselves due to Lou Ellen's spell. Now, the pull-ups she was wearing were designed for children between the ages of three and four, not a preteen of eleven, almost twelve. Further, they were designed to absorb urine, not deal with feces, but even so, the average pull-up could hold a fair amount before leaking, even with diarrhea.

Annabeth did not have a fair amount in her, she had an infinite amount.

She almost died that day, because she had extreme diarrhea, which was more water than anything, and her bowels were being constantly refilled because Lou Ellen's spell, but that spell just refilled bowels...not bodily fluids. Basically, Annabeth rapidly dehydrated herself to a lethal level, in mere seconds.

Any humor found in the situation by the Campers was instantly gone when they saw her keel over, skin papery and cracked. Asteria had nearly deafened everyone's minds when she roared at Lou to put an end to the spell, and the witch responded instantly, horror and panic on her clammy face. Clarisse just stood there off to the side, her mouth opening and closing like a that of a fish, and Chiron also wasn't fully comprehending what had just happened, leaving Asteria as the only one capable of reacting since literally every other Camper couldn't move due to fear.

Annabeth having an accident was known; her keeling over and looking like a mummy was unknown; unknown=fear.

Asteria had scooped the dying child into her arms, fully ignoring the waste that got on her, seeing as Annabeth's trainers had overflowed and leaked through her shorts and down her legs and up her back ( a blow-out diaper if there ever was one), and sprinted full-force to the bathroom, where she used the water from the plumbing to completely wash and revitalize Annabeth's stricken body, clean her clothes, and wash out her pull-up, making all of it clean as when she put it on.

Dionysus later asked why she had shown such concern and worry over the one she had almost killed, and she had responded by saying that she didn't want her investment to go to waste. She then asked Dionysus to erase all memories of the event from everyone's mind, so as to spare the Campers from the trauma of watching Annabeth almost die, and to spare Annabeth herself from her embarrassment and her own trauma, both at her accident and her near-death experience.

That, and Asteria hadn't wanted anyone else questioning why she had rescued Annabeth with such great haste, with greater panic on her face.

Looking back, the hybrid realized that she had already started seeing Annabeth as her own, just as she fully did now.

Looking back even more, Asteria felt her heart clench when she remembered Annabeth's smile, hearing her laugh, listening to her lecture about Greek mythology and launch into full sermons about this and that, watching her practice sword-play, hash out battle strategy after battle strategy, the look of pride on her face when her team was victorious, and how happy she was accepting herself for herself, accepting all of her little quirks and differences.

And then Asteria looked at what the blonde was now. Bound in a straightjacket, a diaper around her waist, dirty, smelly, her hair a mess, scars hidden on her arms from her cutting, confined to this padded room, and drooling on herself. Asteria wiped away the errant strands of saliva from her baby's mouth, and kissed the top of her head. Her lips lingered there for a time, before she pulled away.

' _You don't deserve this, I didn't even want something like this when you first insulted me that night. Death would have been better than this. And you did so well, evolving, growing, learning, becoming a better person, and even getting a little bit of your own happiness out of the whole thing. And now this has happened to you. I'm sorry, Annabeth. I'm so sorry that any of this has happened.'_

Asteria's eyes literally glowed with divine power.

' _You won't be this way for much longer, though. I swear I'll make this right, I swear it on the River Styx.'_

Thunder roared in the skies above.

With the sealing of the oath, something hit Asteria, something big. She remembered how she felt about Angel, about Amelia, about Ariel, and about Annabeth. She realized it now: it wasn't just recently that she had felt like a mother protecting and caring for her children.

She had _always_ been like that.

It had just taken the proper stimuli to get her to realize it.

"Asteria."

The hybrid reacted to the sudden intrusionairy voice by striking with her tail. Seriously, someone sneaks up on her, she doesn't know who they are, but they know her name and where to find her? In just any situation, Asteria's first instinct is to kill; somehow being snuck up on is perfect grounds for attack.

However, she struck only air. Looking behind her, wondering why she still wasn't sensing anyone, she rose a brow when she saw Lucy there, hovering above the ground, her own eyebrow raised. "Missed."

' _I can see that. Did you need something from me?'_

"No, but I come bearing an idea. One that could both save this Camp and heal your…"

' _Baby.'_

"An idea that could both save this Camp and heal your baby."

' _What do you have in mind?'_

"I trust you've heard of the Golden Fleece?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria didn't even bother with the Oracle, nor did she waste time with greetings and catching up. She had a mission now, and no one was going to stop her. The only thing she wanted to do before her departure was put Annabeth in the care of those that would properly care for her at all times.

Zoё blinked when Asteria came into Cabin 8, carrying a diapered, straightjacket-bound teen, who the Huntress recognized as Annabeth Chase.

' _Get this jacket off her and keep an eye on her at all times. Make sure she's well-fed and given even more care than Amelia ever was, and change her diaper immediately when she needs it.'_

"…huh?"

' _Think of this as a mother suddenly dropping off her infant daughter at her sister's house because something sudden came up and she couldn't get a babysitter in time.'_

"…huh?"

' _The Athena Cabin will explain more thoroughly should you as them. In the meantime, please just look after her until I return.'_

"Okay…return from where?"

' _Don't worry about it. Just know that the sooner I'm gone, the sooner I can get back and the sooner we can all leave here.'_

"…fair enough."

Asteria handed over the still-sleeping Annabeth, and that's when Amelia and Ariel scampered into the Cabin, both of them saying mommy over and over again. In any other circumstance, Asteria would have loved to listen to what they had to say, but now she was in a hurry, and a conversation of any length for any reason was not something she was keen on doing, so she did the low thing and brain-blasted her daughters, making them catch some Z's for a while.

After intercepting them and letting them drop safely to the soft ground, Asteria bolted across the whole of the Camp and into the ocean, where she prayed.

' _Dad, need a quick transport to as close as the Sea of Monsters as possible. Amphitrite, Triton, I know this is what one might consider to be the best time for a meet and greet, but please, not right now. I'm in a hurry.'_

The only response she got was three different current suddenly warping around her, and suddenly everything about the water she was in was different. Instinctively, she knew where she was:

The mouth of the Sea of Monsters, right between Scylla and Charybdis.

Time for Mommy to go to work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Hunt was around Camp, doing their own things. Some were playing basketball, some were playing volleyball, some were practicing archery, some were hunting in the woods, some were wrestling with whoever wanted to wrestle, some were sword fighting, and some were catching up with their siblings.

Lucy, however, was in Cabin 8, alone except for Amelia, Ariel, and Annabeth, all three of which were sound asleep.

Cold purple eyes regarded the sleeping children.

"You three are the only things keeping me from having my Blood Goddess back. All it would take is for me to kill you and frame it on someone, alter some memories, and then the bodies would start piling up by the dozen. There would probably even be some hurricanes and earthquakes, all of which would no doubt be accompanied by the death throughs of millions." Lucy's face went lewd.

"Awe, hearing their screams is already making me wet. Don't get me wrong, watching her burn half a state away, and rip Tantalus apart has been some terrific masturbating material, but I need something new, something fresh, something that would kick start that primal rage she has…like the killing the three of you."

Lucy raised her hand to deliver a spell that would do just that, when a terrible idea occurred to her, and she lowered her hand slowly.

"No…no…I have a better idea, one that involves a lot more emotional attachment, an army of monsters, and a cursed Titan. Oh, I can feel myself teetering on the edge just thinking about it." Lucy's grin was sick, lewd, and perverted all at once.

"The Blood Goddess will be willing to do anything to heal your stinky ass, Annabeth, even spreading her legs and letting me fuck her like a little bitch. I'm going to have so much fun!"

And thus, in this continuity, Lucy just signed her death warrant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Right, so I intended to write the whole of the**_ **Sea of Monsters** _ **in this chapter, and end it with Lucy doing something that'll serve to drive Asteria up the wall and into the atmosphere, but then I more or less lost myself in describing Asteria's newfound maternity concerning Annabeth.**_

 _ **Oh, and if it helps you digest this better, think of the current Annabeth as person who just survived a car crash, but with severe brain damage, damage that will soon be fixed by top-of-the-line surgery. There, now the weirdness I've created is hopefully more or less gone.**_

 _ **Now, one person said that Ariel and Amelia calling Asteria mommy is a homage to**_ **Xenophobic** _ **…not really. I intended from the beginning to have a couple of the younger Hunters to see and refer to Asteria as their mother, and for Asteria to see them as her daughters. However, when it comes time for that special week in a girl's life, that relationship will be getting a whole lot more biologically accurate.**_

 _ **This story focuses on gore, psychology, Greek mythology, and my personal favorite: Xenobiology.**_

 _ **It has been a while since we have had a science class, and I feel it is almost time have another lesson.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	37. Changing Hearts

_Changing Hearts_

 _ **Well, here I am again, though I think this'll be the last**_ **Xenomorphic** _ **chapter for a while, as I have other fics to attend to. Besides, I'm sure a great number of you want the other fics to be updated as well.**_

 _ **So, without further ado, let's tear the**_ **Sea of Monsters** _ **a new anus!**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Above the water, Charybdis looked like a bunch of teeth, and a whirlpool that lead straight to an opening in the water that looked suspiciously like a butthole. Under the water, however, Charybdis looked very different. Honestly, perhaps the best description was that she was a giant slug that was grounded to the sea floor. The bottom line here was that, under the water, she wasn't a threat.

Granted, with the ability to fly, any water-based creature wasn't much of a threat.

Asteria shot out of the water with her dorsal tubes fully extended, wings glowing brightly. The heads of Charybdis' sister, Scylla, emerged from her cave, snapping wildly at the airborne hybrid. Asteria weaved through the swarm of necks with expert skill and precision. Only one head got close enough, but Asteria slammed her fist into the underside of its jaws, and the head exploded into a bunch of little pieces.

Now past the entrance and the monsters that guarded said entrance, Asteria went tearing across the Sea of Monsters at Mach 1, staying low to the ocean. Behind her, a massive tail of water shot into the sky due to her extreme wake. In another life, there would have been an episode on CC's spa and resort, a tale involving the sirens and some rope, an encounter on a boat, all before reaching Polyphemus' Island.

All of that would have happened due to a lack of extreme power, but that was a problem Asteria did not have. As such, much of what would have been a harrowing tale was reduced to a breakneck flight across the Bermuda Triangle.

Meanwhile, on his island, Polyphemus was grazing his sheep, the Golden Fleece draped across his shoulder. The cyclopes heard something, something akin to a jet approaching, like airwaves being split by something moving too fast for them to split around. Looking out over the Sea, his poor eyesight prevented him from getting an accurate read on what he was seeing, but he was pretty sure the water was shooting up into the sky.

Then there were a pair of deadly serious green eyes about two feet away from him, and then there was nothing.

The only thing Asteria felt upon flying right through the cyclopes' head was the wetness of his blood all over her, blood that turned into golden dust just before she impacted the island with crater-inducing force, shaking the entire mass of land, and kicking up a large cloud of dirt.

Asteria recalled there being two breeds of sheep on this island, a normal herd to be eaten as Polyphemus decided, and a flesh-eating variety that was supposed to guard the Fleece. However, since the Fleece was with Polyphemus, and the flesh-eating sheep guarded the Fleece...Asteria stared down the horde with serious, narrowed eyes. What happened to the regular sheep was irrelevant, even the ones with the sharp teeth and dripping maws were irrelevant, because Asteria was here for only one thing.

Unfortunately (for the sheep), they were standing on top of it.

A sheep baa'd loudly, a clear indicator for attack, but Asteria was easily a hundred times faster than any of these things could move. She shot forward like a bullet from a gun, tearing a line right down the middle of the herd. Dozens of sheep went flying into the air, dissolving into golden dust, yet many dozens more remained. Not that they mattered, because Asteria now had the Fleece in hand.

Without missing a beat, she leapt clear off the island, a trail of dirt briefly following her foot. Midair, her tubes extended and her wings glowed to life. And then she was flying back across the Sea of Monsters, once more breaking the sound barrier.

It would have been smooth flying, if not for the harpoon that was shot at her from below, no doubt by a wayward daughter of Athena, from the bow of a cruise ship. Asteria, with annoyance on her face, easily dodged the projectile. Knowing that just a single shot was hardly the end of whatever they were planning down there on Luke's ship, Asteria accelerated to her maximum speed, somewhere in the neighborhood of Mach 3, and shot straight up.

Good thing, too, because the harpoon she previously dodged exploded, releasing a chemical into the air, but Asteria was already too far out of its radius for it to affect her even in the slightest. Now gunning it at three times the speed of sound, Asteria cleared the Bermuda Triangle's airspace after less than five minutes of flying, and once she sensed the magic of the Sea disappear she dove right down into the ocean.

He felt the immediate shock of her father and step-family, all of them surprised at how quick and effective she was at getting in and out of the Sea of Monsters, but they nonetheless responded by doing the same thing they did less than twenty minutes ago. Three warm current enveloped Asteria, and when they faded away, the water around her felt inexplicably different. She shot out of the water and saw Camp directly below her.

With her superior vision, she saw every little bit of movement from the few field mice in the strawberry garden, to the hydras in the woods. She also saw Ariel and Amelia learning how to use knives in the arena, being tutored by Zoё, with McKayla keeping Annabeth entertained with some bubbles. On a happy note, Annabeth was wearing a Camp t-shirt instead of a straightjacket, but she wasn't wearing pants. But it was warm out so whatever.

Asteria descended into the arena at a slow pace, so she wouldn't destroy the Camp or flatten the arena, accidentally killing her girls.

Upon touchdown, Ariel and Amelia immediately saw her and squealed in tandem. "Mommy!"

They promptly dropped their knives and rushed the hybrid, and leapt into her open arms, laughing the whole time. Asteria hugged them to her, a fond smile on her own face. Zoё and McKayla watched this happen with their own smiles, the elder daughter of Athena holding to Annabeth because she wanted to go hug Asteria too (by jumping all the way from the stands to the floor which wasn't about to happen), but the girls' eyes popped out of their heads when they saw the golden ram hide in Asteria's hand.

McKayla put her little sister on her hip, and leapt down from the stands. She landed with supreme ease, her demigoddess physiology allowing her to near effortlessly support both her weight and Annabeth's. The damaged blonde squealed in delight the entire time. McKayla fell into step beside Zoё, and they reached Asteria and the girls at the same time.

"Is that the Golden Fleece?" they asked at once.

Annabeth was bouncing in her sister's arms, reaching out for Asteria.

' _Yes, yes it is.'_

Her tail snaked out and wrapped around Annabeth's waist, and brought the happily gurgling girl close to her, suspended off the ground, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Annabeth giggled happily.

"Mommy," Ariel said. "Zoё said she's our little sister, but she's so big."

' _Yes, sweetie, she is big, but her mind's not big.'_

"Her mind's not big?"

' _Nope. Her mind is little, like a baby's.'_

"She has a baby's mind?"

' _Yes.'_

Ariel made a face. "That's so weird!"

Asteria kissed her forehead. 'Just a little, but that's about to be fixed.'

"Huh? How?"

McKayla cut in. "That's the Golden Fleece, like the Golden Fleece, from the Sea of Monsters, on Polyphemus' island."

' _I already covered that.'_

Zoё spoke up. "Are thou saying that thou went to the Sea of Monsters, retrieved the Fleece from Polyphemus, and made it all the way back here," she looked at the sundial on her wrist, "in less than thirty minutes?"

' _Yes.'_

"...how?"

' _Magic.'_

"Oh," McKayla said. "That makes sense."

' _False. Magic does not make sense.'_

"Fair enough...why do you have the Fleece, anyway?"

' _Its magic will remove the influence of Ares and allow me to heal her mind, and after I'm done with it, the Camp can have it...how have these three managed to fall asleep?'_

Annabeth had draped her arms around Asteria's neck, and had fallen limp. A snot bubble continued to inflate and deflate as she breathed steadily. Amelia and Ariel were resting their little heads on the hybrid's chest, her A-cup breasts serving as pillows, but seeing as how they were made of the same super hard molecules as the rest of her skin, she didn't see how they managed to find comfort in any of that. Still, they were both sound asleep, and doing just the cutest thing.

Amelia inhaled a snore, and the Ariel exhaled a snore.

They were completing each other's snores.

"What are you going to do now?" McKayla asked.

' _Put these two to bed, and use the Fleece on this one. Its magic will remove the foreign power affecting her, and then I'll be able to go in and fix her mind.'_

"And if she remembers all this? The diapers, her behavior, the suicide attempts? What then?"

' _I'll erase everyone's memories of those events, including Annabeth's. It'll be like it never happened.'_

"Asteria…the child looks upon you as a daughter does their mother, and you look upon her as a mother does their daughter. Surely you are not about to throw that away?" Zoё asked.

The hybrid successfully kept the pained look off her face. _'Athena is her mother, not I. Besides, she was embarrassed enough as it was in the Underworld when a similar circumstance presented itself, and I will not put her back in the position. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a trio of children to put to bed.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And put them to bed she did. Asteria easily tucked Ariel and Amelia into a bunk within Cabin 8, and the two girls immediately clung to one another like true sisters. The hybrid gently set Annabeth down on a different bed, and, without preamble or hesitation, draped the Golden Fleece over the sleeping victim of Ares. The Fleece glowed brightly with magic, bright enough to where Asteria had to shut her eyes. The air thrummed with its power as its magic worked, and then it stopped.

Like someone had turned off its switch.

Reaching out with her mind, Asteria was relieved to feel that the magical barrier was indeed gone, but there was a much bigger problem on hand. Annabeth's memories…she didn't have any. Her head was as empty as it was the moments before she left Athena's brain, but her lack of any memory was but one of the problems. The second problem was that, where the Fleece once served as a decent-sized blanket, it now hid all of Annabeth's body.

Asteria grabbed the ram's hide and threw it to the side, and her entire body went white, her version of paling drastically. Annabeth was still there, and she was still wearing a Camp t-shirt and a diaper, but it had all…shrunk. The daughter of Athena had shrunk. Not shrunk as in she was simply reduced in size, but shrunk as in she was…younger.

Annabeth Chase, almost-fourteen year old daughter of Athena, now looked like she was almost four.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Not being an expert on magic in the slightest, Asteria's mental voice boomed over the whole of Camp Half-Blood as she called upon the 4,000 year old witch.

' _LUCY! GET IN THIS CABIN RIGHT FUCKING NOW!'_

There was a puff of smoke and the purple-eyed witch appeared, with a strangely excited look on her face. "Yes, Blood Goddess?"

' _What?'_

"Sorry, was reading a comic book and it was on mind. What's up, buttercup?"

' _Don't call me that, ever.'_ Asteria pointed to the toddler that was Annabeth _. 'Used the Fleece. That happened. Explain, please.'_

Lucy cocked her head to the side, her white-and-black hair falling across her face. She approached Annabeth, and then started waving her hands around, palms, flat, chanting in a language Asteria didn't recognize. Which was quite a feat considering she knew words from every language on the planet.

Purple and white mist began to surround Annabeth, and then it was gone, fading away just as it came. Lucy looked at Asteria with a perturbed expression.

"We have a problem. Her time's been erased."

' _What the hell does that mean?'_

"In magical terms, time describes a person's life. Their seconds, their minutes, their hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades. If you take away or steal instances of a person's time, you can effectively erase their memories and experiences, and even de-age them, like so. It's been a favorite of magicians, sorcerers, and the otherwise spiritually inclined for centuries to prolong their lives. Of course, there's the little tidbit of losing parts of your life, but a couple of recording devices fixes that problem just fine."

' _Fascinating, truly. How do we get Annabeth's time back?'_

"We can't. It's been erased. As far as she goes, as far as everything goes, beyond everyone's memories of her, she's never been beyond the age of three. She won't know about anything that's ever happened past the current day, thirteen years ago. She won't remember Thalia, Luke, and Grover, the gods, Camp, what she said to you, the subsequent punishment, the quest, anything. In mind, body, and memory, she's about to be four years old in July. Granted, she doesn't remember anything right now because that magic damaged her brain, but since the magic was removed by the Fleece, it'll be child's play for either one of us to build her memory back up."

Asteria soaked all this up with textbook neutrality _. 'None of that explains how this even happened.'_

Lucy shrugged. "I'm not all-knowing. If I had to guess, whoever cursed Annabeth in the first place put in fail safes or such, to get the last laugh in the situation, maybe another magically based entity was waiting for the moment, or maybe the Fates decided this was necessary for some reason. I know a lot of spells that can do a lot of things, but I do not know of any piece of magic that gives me the answers to any conceivable question."

' _You're experienced in magic. Is there any possible way to get back someone's time, even if it has been erased?'_

"Oh, probably. Deities of time can most certainly do it, Kronos and Chronus are the first that come to mind. However, last I checked, the former is our mortal enemy seeking to destroy Olympus and control the prophecy, so I guess you could go to him and broker a deal of some kind, and as for the latter...well, Chronus isn't exactly a social deity, even for Primordials.

"My suggestion is to make the most out of the given situation. Annabeth had a rough childhood, now you can give her the best possible. Siblings, aunts, food on the table, clothes on her back, a bed to sleep in, even a mother."

' _Athena is her mother.'_

" _Not_ anymore," Lucy said seriously. "Perhaps on a divine level, Athena is her mother, but you of all people should know that family goes beyond blood. As it stands, as far as Annabeth's perception goes, you are her mother. And unlike Athena, you have the ability to provide for her. Think on that before you decide on doing anything stupid, like going filling Annabeth's head with memories, or having a chat with your grandfather."

Lucy vanished in a puff of smoke.

Asteria bared her teeth in frustration at this new predicament. Amelia and Ariel were had snuggled together, and were still completing each other's snores, and Annabeth was still asleep, that same snot bubble in her nose. She looked peaceful, carefree, and released from the burdens of the half-blood lifestyle.

Giving her memories and body back would plop her right into the middle of everything, but repairing her mind and implanting memories of good times, raising her from her current age, would be a better life than Camp Half-Blood, especially with the threat of Kronos and Luke on the rise…

But there was more to it than that. Asteria was talking about another person's entire _identity_ , what made them, them. Memories, experiences, quirks, kinks, preferences, personality, everything about them. What right did anyone have to deny Annabeth that? Not endeavoring to bring her back to normal seemed more of a crime than leaving her like this.

 _Hoo_

A barn owl fluttered in from somewhere, and Asteria felt herself deadpanning. The owl lighted on Annabeth's head, and then glowed with storm grey energy. Unlike the Fleece, the glow did not become bright enough to cause Asteria to avert her eyes. The glow faded, the owl hooted one more time, and then it flew away into the ether.

It should be noted that Annabeth's mind was now different, filled with memories of events and things and sensations and lessons that Asteria did remember happening, but she knew that through the Mist, everything would become like fact. Further, Annabeth now had all the mental function of the above-average, almost-four year old daughter of the Wisdom Goddess.

Asteria felt herself continuing to deadpan. _'Athena, this is the equivalent of dumping a child on me.'_

' _Agreed, however, the child being 'dumped' is one you love dearly, and like Lucy said, will be able to provide for in a way that I never could. Asteria...Asteria, you'll never know how much we gods envy you demigods.'_

Demigods could raise their children, gods could not.

' _I know you'll do well as a mother. Your blood proves it.'_

Asteria's face settled into one of calm acceptance. There was no point in arguing this anymore. Athena had already acted, a goddess had already acted, on her own child no less. Her mind was made up and her will was done. No point arguing anymore.

Still…

Searching Annabeth's mind, Asteria noticed a key missing subject.

' _Could you have at least potty trained her?'_

She could feel Athena's amusement through their mental link. _'Whoever said motherhood was easy? Besides, you are technically stealing my daughter from me. I feel it only appropriate that some modicum of a con is in play here.'_

' _Fine. Whatever.'_

She had had Amelia fully potty trained, day and night time, in less than two full weeks, and did something almost the same with Angel, without having any physical contact. She had already potty trained two little girls, and she could do the same with Annabeth...right after she had her diaper changed and woke up from her nap.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

" _ **Luke, can you explain to me just why, exactly, I am not feeling the restorative powers of the Golden Fleece right now?"**_

Luke, as soon as he fell asleep, had been pulled into a dream-audience with his great-grandfather. "I missed her, my lord. She was flying, just as you predicted, and I took aim. I missed. She was even able to dodge the chemical dispersal."

" _ **I keep hearing you say that**_ _ **you**_ _ **missed. Was it not the daughter of Athena, Emily, that ran the numbers and fired the harpoon at Asteria?"**_

"…it was, my lord."

" _ **I thought so. Now, why do you say it was**_ _ **you**_ _ **that missed?"**_

"It was my assignment, the mission given to me directly from you. Emily's failure is my failure, therefore _I_ missed the shot."

" _ **You impress me with your chivalry, Luke, and your loyalty to your cousins. However, I must apologize for accusing you, Luke. Had I known who the true culprit of this blunder was, I would not have interrupted your sleep. Pleasant dreams, great-grandson."**_

Luke did not immediately wake up, but neither did he dream of anything else. It was a peaceful sleep. When he did wake, those synapses firing on all cylinders, his eyes shot wide open, and be blurred through the _Princess Andromeda's_ decks and hallways, all the way down from the captain's quarters to the berthing area, in less than ten seconds.

If there was one thing Luke did not despise about his father, it was all the powers he had inherited from the him.

While the ship was not coed, there were no rules that stated the boys and girls couldn't mix, which led to some entertaining stories of catching people in the act of things. Boys stealing panties and makeup, girls stealing boxers and deodorant, kissing, gay kissing, even full-blown fornication had been walked in on. To avoid something like that, which was embarrassing for everyone involved than anything, there had developed a thing of common courtesy, called knocking.

Luke forewent knocking for slamming his shoulder into the metal door, and blowing through it like was made of cardboard. He wasn't Superman, nor did he have anything providing him with extra durability beyond demigod physiology, so he did end up dislocating his shoulder, but the damage was soundly ignored in favor of fervently searching through the girls' room.

His violent entry had woken the sleeping females of Kronos' demigod army, and, while in any other situation they would've all been screaming about a pervert, the look on Luke's face and his panicked mannerisms kept them all silent.

He quickly found the bunk he was looking for, another power of being the son of the Messenger God, and he found Emily's bunk to be empty, aside from her belongings and toiletries. Luke threw the blankets aside, just to make sure she wasn't simply covered up by them; the only thing under those blankets was a dark spot that reeked of urine, and a couple of crusted areas that looked suspiciously like blood.

Luke felt his blood stop pumping, and his eyes just happened to look at the ground, where he saw a small trail of blood drops leading to what was probably the head. The Son of Hermes followed this trail, pulse increasing with each step. The sound of running water soon became heard, and Luke's pace increased.

He got to the door, and wasted no time in throwing it open, heedless of the possibility that there might have been a girl in there doing business.

Luke felt all color in his body drain away at what he saw.

The sink was set to on, and had long since overflowed. Floating in the sink was the severed head of Emily, eyes lifeless, skin colorless, hair a complete mess. It was just…bobbing there, staring blankly at Luke. On the ground was the rest of her body, and it looked like it had been chewed on, with massive bite marks here and there, and her entire front had been gnawed off, exposing her yellow ribcage, lungs, heart, and left her intestines to flop about the drowning floor. Those looked to have been gnawed on as well.

There was also her neck. Whatever had taken off her head had not done so cleanly. No, based on the way the skin was torn, her head looked to have been _bitten_ off, bitten off by a rabid meat eater of a monster.

With trembling hands, Luke reached down and brought Emily's head to his face, and he touched foreheads with a strangled sob. He knew not what creature had did this, and launching an investigation aboard a ship of monsters would be pointless. However, he knew what this was, what this whole situation was.

This was Kronos punishing him. This was Kronos punishing Emily. This was Kronos punishing his followers, followers who had sworn loyalty to him on the River Styx in the hopes of a better future for themselves and their kin. This was Kronos punishing failure, by killing those who looked up to and depended on him for guidance and support.

Luke knew the Crooked One was not a forgiving Titan, but _this_ , after just one mishap, was _absurd_ , and the Lightning Thief knew it would only get worse. Much worse.

It was often that Luke found himself reflecting on his life choices, and it was often that he rationalized that he was doing was the best thing—the _right_ thing. But there were those few times, those rare times, in which he felt that he was doing was wrong. Right here, right now, as he held the severed head of a dear friend of his, Luke found himself drowning in the latter thought process.

"Luke?" a small voice asked. "Why are you holding a bar of soap to your face?"

The Son of Hermes turned around, and saw Amy, his ten year old little sister.

"Soap…?" Luke said dazedly. She thought he holding _soap_? He was about to argue this, go on a tirade, scream, yell, maybe even attack, but it clicked for him just in time.

Mist.

Illusion.

Alteration.

"Amy, do you remember Emily? The daughter of Athena?"

The child cocked her head to the side. "Emily? I don't remember her…are you okay, Big Brother?"

Luke's smile was strained and false, not that Amy saw that. "I'm fine. Go back to bed if you want to."

"Okay," Amy yawned.

Luke turned back around, and in the reflection of the mirror, he saw his murderous face, and the rage in his eyes.

These were _children_ ; Emily was only _fourteen_ ; Amy only _ten_ ; and there were younger ones, ones picked up on the streets, ones picked up in worse places. They had sworn oaths to Kronos with the motivation of striking back at their neglectful parents, getting their pound of flesh from the people that had brought them into this world, only to be abandoned.

And _death_ was how they were treated for a single mishap?

If that was the case, then Kronos was hardly a better tradeoff than the Olympians.

Snarling, Luke dropped Emily's head as he steadied himself on the edges of the ceramic sink. His lips curled back, his eyes burned, his muscles clenched, his teeth gnashed, and grip was like that of a vice, one which steadily grew tighter and tighter.

 _It wasn't fair!_

Neglected by Hermes, the lapdog of Kronos. Forgotten by his father, threatened with death by his great-grandfather. Frowned upon by the Messenger God, used like a pawn by the King Cannibal.

All Luke wanted was a world in which all parents cared for all their children with equal love and care. All Luke wanted was peace and tranquility for himself and his fellows. All he wanted…all he wanted was for his father to recognize him as his son, say 'I love you.' Luke wanted that for _all_ demigods on both sides of the line.

He was a revolutionary, not cold murderer that could stand to watch his friends and family be killed for a single failure.

He _would not_ stand to watch that happen.

But he had sworn an oath—he had sworn fealty and loyalty. He had sworn never to betray Kronos in any way. His hands were tied by the River Styx, and there was nothing he could do.

The sink Luke was gripping shattered under his strength and fell from the wall, and the pipe erupted in a horizontal geyser that nailed Luke in the crotch. With a pained and annoyed grunt, the demigod stepped out of the way of the pressurized stream of water.

…

Water.

Oceans.

The sea.

Poseidon.

 _Asteria._

For as many times as Luke had thought what he was doing was wrong, this was the first in which he _knew_ he was doing wrong…and he needed help. The kind of help that flew a futuristic jet; the kind of help that could start impossible and logic-defying wildfires; the kind of help that could command earthquakes, storms, the tides, and the minds of others.

Luke needed to get in touch with his confusing flame.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **That is a wrap, and the end of**_ **Xenomorphic** _ **for an indefinite period of time. Most likely, anyway.**_

 _ **Lucy is setting up her plan to make Asteria revert to her old ways by making Annabeth young again, by stealing her time, and Athena's not helping the situation by making Annabeth's mind fit her young body, but hey.**_

 _ **Mommy!Asteria for the win!**_

 _ **And in other news, we have Luke questioning his role in the world, and why he's even doing what he's doing with**_ _ **who**_ _ **he's doing it with, and realizing that maybe he did not make the best choice in life. But he is starting to get it into his head that he needs help, so there's that.**_

 _ **There's also an Easter Egg from**_ **Alien: Covenant** _ **somewhere in the above chapter. Go see if you can find it, but after you…**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	38. Lining up the Pieces

_Lining Up the Pieces_

 _ **Well, it has been too long, but fret not, because I'm here to stay…which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it, because I'm here to finish this story.**_

 _ **How it ends shouldn't be too hard to figure out, just think of Aliens do to keep the Hive alive, and then blow that to epic proportions with Asteria. I have hinted multiple times in previous chapters that at the onset of puberty, Asteria would be changing drastically, and things were going to get bloody.**_

 _ **It is now time for that. It is time for Annabeth, Amelia, and Ariel to truly become the blood daughters of the Fallen Star. It is time for Cain and Asteria to figure out their roles in the relationship. It is time for the daughter of Poseidon to PMS.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That last month at camp had gone by swiftly, as had the whole past half a year. Indeed, six months have passed since Asteria flew through the Sea Monsters, six months since Asteria became a mother to a trio of little girls, six months since Annabeth was turned into a four-year-old with the mind of a four-month-old.

Gods, was that a roller coaster of events.

Firstly, the amount of diapers Asteria had to change. Annabeth might have looked four, but she had all the mental function of a baby, and therefore required the necessary items _for_ a baby. However, there was a learning curve present in children of Athena, and Annabeth was even a cut above her siblings. Through her telepathy, and a generous amount of help from Bethany and Bertha, Annabeth's much older half-sisters, Asteria was able to progress her youngest through years and years of learning in just months.

Currently, Annabeth, with the body of a four-and-a-half-year-old (the child made sure to remind everyone that she was four _and_ a half), had the mind of a ten-year-old. She could instantly do simple math in her head, and she could do more complex math by writing her finger through the air to set up the problem. She knew generous amounts of history and geography, biology and chemistry, and anatomy and physiology. She was a very smart young girl, but she still had her rough edges.

Well, not necessarily _rough_ …but…quirkiness.

Especially in one area.

Asteria, in her fourteen years of life, had potty trained three girls. The first was Angel, and Asteria had done that from over a hundred meters away, using her mind. Angel had been the easiest, because she was eager to learn and didn't like having her poop smushed against her butt by the training pants the School had provided. Amelia had been the second, and Asteria had her potty trained in under two weeks, day and night time; it had taken only one package of pull-ups, and a bit of psychology. Back then, when she had had to babysit the Hunt's resident baby, the very first diaper that Asteria had to change had been the only one she was going to change, and so she motivated Amelia using operant conditioning. Now, the third child Annabeth had potty trained was obvious: Annabeth.

The problem with Annabeth was that, unlike her adoptive sister and spiritual sister…she had wanted absolutely nothing to do with the toilet.

Being a telepath made Asteria the only mother in the world that could instantly identify any al kinds of problems that her children had, and Annabeth's problem hadn't been that she was afraid of the toilet, or was too lazy to go to the toilet, or didn't want to ask to go to the toilet, or liked using her training pants as her toilet, or was afraid that if she was potty trained, she would lose something…it was that she enjoyed the attention she got whenever she had her pants changed.

Back when Asteria had been training Amelia, she had yet to embrace her full maternal role and was simply training the child so that she wouldn't have to go through the inconvenience of diaper changes. It had been purely for the benefit of herself, which was why it had been so easy to suddenly ignore Amelia after she had accident, and borderline emotionally scar the child into being fully potty trained.

When it came to Annabeth, though, Asteria did not even try to hide her love for her youngest daughter, and that was why she couldn't just turn on a dime and give the four-year-old the cold shoulder and emotionally shatter her…and so attention was given, and Annabeth had stayed away from the potty.

In her childish mind, it was simple: keep going in her pants, keep getting Mommy's attention.

Of course, things got worse because Amelia and Ariel did not comprehend why their sister wasn't potty training successfully. They couldn't have comprehended the details of Annabeth's psyche if they had tried, and simply thought that their sister was just having some kind of problem. So, like the responsible big sisters that they were, they sought to help Annabeth in their own unique (read: exceedingly irritating) way.

From the time Amelia and Ariel hatched their plan, every time they had to use the bathroom, they went where they were standing, thereby having 'an accident' until Asteria got fed up with having to change underwear and pants and put both of them back in pull-ups to avoid having so many clothes to wash. Of course, Asteria knew from the very beginning what those two were up to, and she used it to her advantage.

She diverted attention away from Annabeth and split it evenly between her daughters, and then she let Annabeth's intelligence combine with her drive for attention take over. She was a smart girl, motivated, and ambitious in a way. When her sisters were suddenly in the same boat as her, she sought a way out, and the way she found was conveniently the route to the toilet.

And it had nothing to do with some mental nudging from Asteria.

Annabeth was potty trained within the span of 24 hours, having always known what the signals her body was giving were, just not acting on them. Upon actually acting on them, _and_ receiving the higher praise and affection from Asteria by doing so, Annabeth finally moved past her pants. Amelia and Ariel quickly did the same, and that was how Asteria briefly had three little girls all in pull-ups.

Then the next great harrowing experience was that Annabeth hadn't liked how panties felt on her, and wanted to go back to pull-ups. Asteria allowed it, but only after making it very clear that the pull-ups were only for wearing, and not for using. It was a phase that lasted only for three weeks until Annabeth's mental age increased, and she determined (in a great display of independence and maturity) that pull-ups were for "bratty little girls" and that she, a "big girl of the higher mental institutions" had no place wearing such childish undergarments.

And that was how Annabeth's pull-up phase came and went, much to Asteria's joy.

Finally, all three girls were in panties…no more diapers, no more pull-ups…it had actually brought a tear to her eye.

But not everything was good.

In her tent, Asteria was wide awake, her daughters all piled on top of her. It was probably three in the morning, giving the girls another handful of hours to sleep. It was going to be torture for Asteria, because moving would cause them to wake, and no self-respecting mother wanted to prematurely wake their children without due cause.

The reason for Asteria's state of wakefulness was due to the dream she just woke from, the same dream she had been having for many nights now. The dream was of her, with her eyes completely blacked out, her claws, jaws, and tail painted red, standing before three cocoons bound to a wall. Around her was an army of dome-headed creatures—her Hive. The cocoons would ripple and tremble, and then they were violently split open by the occupants. From there, the next thing Asteria saw was the world, all of the green, blue, and brown replaced with black, like the entire world had been overrun.

Then the dream would end with a monstrous pain, and she would wake up with her ovular area stinging and aching.

Asteria was no fool. She knew what was coming—her first period. Puberty. Maturation. The time to start a Hive. However, where most girls thought of their first period, they thought of bleeding, cramps, mood swings, and the craving of chocolate. Asteria knew damned well that her first period—and everyone thereafter—was not going to be like that at all.

Instead, it was going to be like when she woke for her second life.

New structures, new abilities, new instincts. She was going to go through her own set of changes, and she didn't know if that was a good thing.

Those three cocoons, that army of Warriors and Drones, the black-covered Earth…Amelia, Ariel, and Annabeth? Hundreds upon hundreds of humans used as breeding stock—killed? The entire planet—her Hive?

While Asteria didn't know, she strongly suspected those were the right answers. The question was how. She could see how she might get away with her daughters, dragging them to a secluded area and cocooning them, most likely for metamorphosis, like she went through, but killing investing so many humans? Harvesting the whole world?

It wasn't going to be possible. Her father, her uncles, her aunts, and her cousins would stop her long before the death toll could reach a dozen, and that was to say nothing of the other pantheons of gods out there.

Yes, Asteria knew of the existence of the other gods. Artemis had let slip a little tidbit she didn't mean to when she and Asteria were having some bonding time. Apparently, the Egyptians had bound their gods to the Duat, and had little locations called Nomes all over the world, the Norse had access points to Yggdrasil and the other Nine Worlds set up all over the globe, and the Shinto had apparently created their own dimensional plane at the onset of the Titans' reign. The Aztecs were rumored to be around Houston, and the others, like the Canaanites, Mesopotamians, and Celts, were said to be on other continents.

Contact with those gods was rare and hadn't happened in millennia, so just where other pantheons were at was a mystery to all.

Anyway, the point being made is that if Asteria's period involved a planet-wide infestation, there was a multitude of gods there to stop her and prevent her from seemingly wiping out humanity.

Unless she did something so cataclysmic that she somehow wiped out all opposition…or something so _deus ex machina_ happened, it was almost going to be painful to read. The bottom line was that Asteria knew her limits, and fighting whole mythologies was beyond her. Maybe.

Last Asteria checked, the gods still drew power from prayer, and with so many people nowadays not praying to them, much of their previous power was gone. Then again, perhaps there were other places out there like Camp Half-Blood, camps that were dedicated to the gods of the world. Asteria knew there was New Rome and Hotel Valhalla, and since the Egyptians primarily wished to contain their gods, they didn't pray to them, but they were still a living symbol of the Egyptian pantheon's continued existence.

Maybe the Aztecs had a magically hidden temple somewhere in Houston, or maybe it was sitting on top of a building to avoid the potential of flood waters. Who knew for sure?

But Asteria knew that if there was something like that out there, which there probably was, all things considered, then that dream of her seemingly conquering the world and turning it into a Hive was going to have some hurdles to overcome.

Or she was going to take over the world, and then have to battle pockets of resistance to ensure the survival of the Hive.

Asteria couldn't help the low hiss that escaped her when her head started to throb in pain from all the thinking and borderline worrying she was doing.

Ugh, puberty _sucked_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucy couldn't decide on whether to be excited or apprehensive. Excited because, after so long, her Blood Goddess would be returning full force in less than three weeks, and was going to go on a killing spree so violent, the population of the world was at risk, and apprehensive because there were so many gods out there that would oppose her Blood Goddess, and there were only so many divinities a half-goddess could handle by her lonesome.

Of course, Lucy was going to help as much as she could, calling in old favors, calling up friends, pulling some strings, and throwing down herself. Still, there was so much even she could handle. Sure, she could've taken on a full-powered Golden Age Titan, and the gods of today were so pitifully weak compared to their heyday selves, but they were still gods, and there were hundreds of them.

They wouldn't take Asteria's hostile takeover of the world laying down.

The conflict to come both made Lucy's panties wet, and her blood curl at the strong possibility of defeat. She hated defeat.

However, that vision she had seen, the one of _him_ …the same _him_ that had battled Ares alongside her Blood Goddess, the same _him_ that was so powerful…if that vision held true, then that same _him_ would be coming, only he was now leagues more powerful than what he had been. Lucy doubted that, even at her full strength, she could match him.

Still, Shin'en had his own Blood Goddess lying sealed within him, and that Blood Goddess, Sachiko, was much cuter than Asteria.

Maybe Lucy could try bringing Sachiko out for a date, and depopulate a small country?

…

Nah. She had her plate full already.

Besides, Sachiko was Lucy's other self's Blood Goddess.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While the Fates were never particularly positive, they were never particularly negative. In light of coming events, they were feeling very negative.

"And there's not a way to avoid this?" Clotho asked.

"Not without killing Asteria," Atropos answered.

"Which would be detrimental to Continuity," Lachesis threw in.

"Ah, Continuity. Such a bane to everything, and yet such a boon."

"Indeed. In an example of Continuity, the Great Depression cannot end unless the Holocaust happens, and World War Two cannot end without the dropping of the bombs."

"As far as this dimension's Continuity runs, Asteria cannot be killed. The altercation lies in that her destiny breeds tremendous conflict about the gods. None of them will stand idly by and let Asteria harvest the planet, not even the Olympians will sit back and let Poseidon's child run rampant, and if they stopped her in the coming days, they would have to stop her again and again, until Death managed to claim her."

"And even then, Death's hold is not absolute. It has happened before, and it will happen again, and Asteria is a terrific force, one very capable of escaping Death's hold. When that happens, the conflict will rage again."

"So it seems there is no choice but to wipe the board, leaving only the Queen and her King and their children left, a Hive to lay in wait for the time in which they are needed."

"Indeed. Though removing the gods from this world would not be a travesty. If anything, it would benefit if the world."

"Aye. With her divine lineage so strong within her, her offspring would not be incapable of harvesting the gods, and her offspring themselves will be so powerful. As they will be the children of Asteria, who is the child of Poseidon, they will be legacies."

"And with the science that has made their existence possible, the enhanced bodies and heightened intelligence, they will be even more so powerful. A race of Xenomorphs born from a godchild…they will be problem enough as they are. We do not need any born directly from a god."

"Aye, we do not. But, how do we deal with them? We have concluded to wipe them away, but how? Do we lock them, fade them, move them? What of their offspring? Demigods, magicians, einherjar? They will not be so easily coerced into not fighting, and fighting will only make them accessible for harvest, and we have already concluded that Xenomorphs born from Asteria and humans will strong enough, but Xenomorphs born from Asteria and other entities of divine lineage? That could very well spell disaster on a dimensional scale."

Clotho smiled, a garish sight. "Come now, sisters. We know this debate to be pointless. The young planeswalker has already foreseen our chosen decision."

"Yes, but the last time I checked, _he_ just concluded an episode in a world mirroring this one very closely. Bringing him here…might destable his psyche even further. He became tightly attached to those two, on an emotional level. Seeing Asteria might bring error to his judgement."

"His judgement will be based entirely around protecting Asteria, whether she wants it or not. Any error that might be made, will be an error regarding an event that brings harm to Asteria, something he will not allow to come to pass."

"Indeed, but they did part ways on mostly unfriendly terms. Where he might be conflicted about seeing her again, she might be hostile."

"But a look into his mind, seeing how he has changed, and what has happened to him, will dull her senses of hostility. She may very well give him a hug."

Lachesis sighed. "What delicate material we deal with, sisters. The very fabric of space and time, dimensions, the same person, copied a googol over, with drastic differences and not so much. Still, as powerful as we are, we are only as powerful as the Writer wants us to be, and we are subject to His whims at all times. To Continuity, sisters."

"To Continuity."

"To Continuity."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the cell he had been patiently waiting in for months on end, alone, with no one but himself, Cain's eyes opened steadily. His pupiless irises flashed brightly, and he rose to his feet. The mandibles outside his face vibrated as a click rose from his throat. In three powerful steps, he crossed the distance between him and the window that had nothing behind it, and shattered it with a single punch.

Now free of whatever sad excuse for a prison this was, Cain set off.

It was almost time.

Asteria. Would she be his mate? His newest trophy? His Queen? His executioner?

Their next meeting would decide once and for all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Like the Sea of Monsters arc, the Titan's Curse arc is going to be much different. This was a filler chapter, yes, and the next one is going to be Maine, and a set of events that will kick-start everything else.**_

 _ **As far as the coming Hive goes, ask yourselves: when do they Xenomorphs stop expanding the Hive? My answer: as long as there are lifeforms to harvest, the Hive will never stop expanding. If the Hive runs out of things to breed, it will go dormant and lie in wait for new material to come along, just like the LV-426 Hive. However, in Asteria's case, her potential Hive spreads across at least two continents, and conventional Queens aren't half god.**_

 _ **Essentially, Asteria, when in the process of building her Hive, isn't going to stop at a single town or city. She's going to keep harvesting until she can't find anything else to harvest, and like it's already been established: none of the gods, and none of their earthly institutions are going to take that lying down. And I'm not about to kill Asteria.**_

 _ **Hence, otherworldly help.**_

 _ **Potentially.**_

 _ **This story might be coming to an end, but don't let that stop you from Faving, Following, and Reviewing!**_


	39. A Curse Begun

_A Curse Begun_

 _ **Thus we begin the Titan's Curse arc, the last canon arc, and it's not going to be long, seeing as Asteria is banned from Camp Half-Blood, and I don't want her to go there anyway. That leaves only going with Artemis, and that's going to be fun.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maine was not a particularly warm state. It had moments, certain areas during certain seasons in which the temperatures were comfortable, but mostly it was cold. Especially the north. Especially during the winter.

Which was why Asteria had her girls bundled up.

' _You three behave for your Aunt Joanna and Sarah, okay? I'll only be gone for a short while.'_

"Okay, Mommy!" Amelia chirped.

"I promise I'll be good, Momma," Ariel said.

"Bye, Mom," Annabeth finished.

Out of her sisters, she was the quiet and reserved one. It came with the maturity of a daughter of Athena. Although, due to her lessons with Asteria via telepathy, she did have a higher mental age than Amelia or Ariel.

With goodbyes said, the Hunters set off into the night towards the boarding school where the manticore was situated. Apparently, a satyr had found a couple of half-bloods, powerful ones by their scent, and had requested backup from Camp. The Hunt was in the neighborhood, stalking some Hyperborean giants, when Artemis picked up the manticore's presence, and that of the demigods. She decided to help.

However, the young ones didn't need to be placed in such danger, hence babysitters for Asteria's adoptive daughters.

"You make a fine mother," Zoё complimented as they ran through the trees.

' _I do my best,'_ Asteria mentally sighed, exasperated. _'It took far too long to get all three in panties. At least Ariel was potty trained from the start, but I still had to change her pull-ups when she and Amelia went through that phase.'_ The telepath made a face that caused Zoё to snicker. _'How three little girls managed to produce so much_ _stink_ _, I'll never know. I've been in the presence of rotting carcasses that didn't smell that bad.'_

Atlas' daughter shrugged mid-run. "Poop stinks, regardless of the colon it comes from."

' _Ugh, if I never change another diaper again for the rest of my life and my afterlife, it'll be too soon.'_

Zoё snorted.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Direct interference is against the Ancient Law—shit, it's you," Dr. Thorn grumbled when he saw the pitch-black skinned daughter of Poseidon. "And the little ones aren't here, either, so there's no way to bargain my way out.

' _It's even worse when you realize that you're looking at a mental projection and not the real thing.'_

"Dammit."

Asteria speared Thorn from behind with her tail, shredding the monster's heart, turning him to dust in an instant. The sting of the manticore's tail was left behind, and Asteria decided that she might as well claim it as a spoil of war...truthfully, it was just another additive to the mountain of monster junk in her tent that her daughters liked to use as toys.

"Okay, who are you people!?"

Asteria turned her attention to the olive-skinned children with black hair and eyes. It was the older sister, the one wearing the green cap, who had spoken. Her younger sibling, a boy, was looking on in wonder. She looked about fourteen, he looked about twelve, and amidst his swiveling eyes, he swiveled to look more at the son of Apollo, Will Solace, Asteria recognized, than what was usual for a boy in the beginning stages of puberty.

Curious.

Even more curious was the fact that when Asteria looked into their minds, she saw vague images and recollections, an unhealthy amount of the Lotus Hotel, and some blanks. She did get names though: Bianca and Nico di Angelo.

Before Bianca's question could be answered, an attack chopper came whirring over the cliff's edge. Not that Asteria was surprised; she had heard the blades, smelled the fuel, sensed the electricity, and she was right by the sea. The proximity alone was enough to boost everything she had.

Without even glancing at the metal bird, Asteria flicked her tail, the muscle chords between each blade segment locking out like the tongue of a frog, and sliced the wing off like it was made of warm butter. The helicopter destabilized and went spinning off into the night, exploding somewhere below the cliff. The black of the late hour was shattered in the wake of the orange and red flames of the destroyed chopper.

Nico was starry-eyed, and Bianca was pale with a slack jaw, as were some others.

Cathy shouldered her bow with an irritated look on her face. "With Asteria around, why are any of us still here?"

' _Because everyone knows you want to sleep with me, and everyone knows that I consistently reject your every advance, and it brings them amusement to watch our shtick.'_

"Oh...well, you're not wrong."

"Hey! Is going to answer my question?"

Zoё stepped forward to rattle off a string of words she had no doubt memorized after four thousand years of dealing with in-shock demigods. While she did that, Asteria stepped up to familiar faces. Will Solace, Drew Tanaka, and Katie Gardner. They all smiled.

"Little Sister~!" Drew cooed. "Tell me these lesbians haven't corrupted you? Tell me you still think boys are where the real fun is at?"

Katie scoffed. "Boys. Are. Gross." Images of the Stoll brothers flitted across her surface thoughts. Asteria has some fun and altered the thoughts ever so slightly, and a faint blush spread across her cheeks.

Will was indignant. "Boys aren't any more gross than girls are!" Katie rounded on him, but Will was faster. "Please, I am a doctor; I can tell you things about the female body that will make your face as green as your cabin's roof," he deadpanned.

Katie opened her mouth, but Asteria curbed the pointless argument by filling the daughter of Demeter's head with a bunch of nasty facts regarding female anatomy. True to Will's word, Katie did indeed turn green.

"I-I'll be right back," she stumbled off behind a bush.

And then Drew looked at Asteria expectantly.

' _Can't say I know for sure which way I swing, so for the time being I'll just roll with I'm bisexual.'_

Drew nodded. "Good, there's hope you can give me some nieces and nephews to spoil, then."

' _You have three nieces.'_

Since Will was onboard the Thought-Train Express, he also flipped out.

" _What!?"_

Asteria mentally snickered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The trio from Camp Half-Blood, and there was a satyr, Grover, all stared at what they were seeing. They were at the Hunter's camp, a blazing campfire warming the cold night, with wolves and falcons providing guard. Seating arrangements were logs, and everyone had logs. Those from Camp had a log, those in relationships had logs, and groups of friends had logs.

Asteria had her own log, one that she shared with her daughters, which was what the four from were staring at.

Annabeth, with the body of a four-year-old, was sitting in Aster's lap, her waist being held by the sea princess' arms, and the other two, Amelia and Ariel, sat on either side of the hybrid. Annabeth was hard at work solving a Rubik's Cube, and her sisters were watching intently. Besides the crackling fire, the only sounds in the camp was the flipping of the Cube.

 _Shock_ was not necessarily the right word for what Katie, Drew, Will and Grover were feeling...more like... _wonder_. Awe. Amazement. Yes, all four of them knew that Annabeth had been turned into a child, and yes, they all knew that her memory had been erased, and yes, they all knew Asteria had taken Annabeth with her to the Hunt, becoming something of a mother to girl, but to _see_ it…

To _see_ Asteria holding Annabeth like a daughter, to _see_ Annabeth perfectly at peace with where she was sitting, on Asteria's lap, to _see_ them interacting like mother and child...it was strange. It was strange because, as they watched the love-filled relationship, they all remembered just how that relationship had started out.

Lesbian fuck, killed your own family, psychopath, a murder attempt, regression punishment, humiliation, pull-ups, accidents...the great irony, the foil, the whole situation being flipped on its head, to _see_ this massive change with their own eyes, Annabeth going from prideful bitch to loving daughter- _Asteria's_ daughter-was something else.

Perhaps a miracle.

' _So_ , _'_ Drew said mentally, knowing her thoughts were being read, _'nieces?'_

' _Mm-hm. Annabeth, in my lap, Amelia on my left, and Ariel on my right.'_

' _Well, I know the first. What about the other two?'_

' _Amelia's been a Hunter since the Civil War. She was taken in at five and watching her mother be killed by Union soldiers traumatized her. She's been in diapers up until a little over a year ago, when I potty trained her. Ariel used to be a boy, a member of Lycaon's pack. The wolves used Ariel as a semen receptacle, raping and abusing him. After Cain-'_ Asteria cut herself off.

' _After the Hunters dealt with the pack, Ariel wanted to join the Hunt, but only maidens can join the Hunt, and so Artemis changed him into a girl, and took away all the bad memories of his time with the pack, and gave her happy memories of time with the Hunt. She took to me and started calling me Momma, just like Amelia and Annabeth do.'_

Another loop was thrown. Yes, they had all seen the interactions between Asteria and post-Tantalus Annabeth. Seeing the intelligent daughter of Athena in a diaper and a camp T-shirt, gurgling, cooing, and babbling had been bizarre enough, seeing Asteria take textbook care of Annabeth had been majorly bizarre, and then to see _this_ happening, was the cherry on top.

It was official now, in Katie, Drew, Will, and Grover's mind: Asteria was a mother; a mother to _Annabeth_.

Speaking of the blonde, she held up her Cube for Aster to inspect. She took it, looked at all the sides, and then handed it back, pointing out that there was a green cube in the middle of the white section. Annabeth frowned, took the Cube, and furiously reworked it until all side were the same. Then Amelia took it, Ariel covered Annabeth's eyes, and the former worked the Cube into a state of chaos. The Ariel removed her hand, Amelia gave the Cube back, Annabeth examined all the sides, and Asteria watched with a proud smile as her children got along.

Drew watched, and something of a bitter look appeared in her eye. _'I wish my mom was like you. All mine does is get laid and forgot who she did it with.'_

Asteria could see perfectly in all degrees, due to the second fovea in her eyes, but that didn't stop her from locking her poisonous green with Drew's ever-changing ones. _'You can ask Artemis to change your age and your memory, and join the Hunt.'_

She was only half-joking.

Drew knew it, and she sighed with a sad and bitter smile. _'No, that's not going to happen. For one, I like boys. Two, I'm not going through puberty again. Three, immortality doesn't appeal to me. Four, I enjoy being able to masturbate. And five, I enjoy being your big sister. Gives me all kinds of leverage.'_

Asteria smirked. _'Sure it does.'_

Considering this whole exchange was telepathic, and Bianca had no idea what was going on, but she knew something was going on, and she wasn't a part of it, and her frustration got the better of her. She threw her hands in the air.

"What is going on here!?"

Drew looked at her. "I'm having a telepathic conversation with my little sister. Cool your jets."

Bianca's eyes darted between the daughter of Aphrodite and the daughter of Poseidon. "Sis...ter?"

As far as she saw, there was no resemblance.

At all.

Artemis cleared her throat. "Bianca, please come with me to my tent. There are things I wish to discuss with you."

"What about me?" Nico asked.

"How about you show Victoria your Myth-O-Magic collection? Show her how to play."

Nico looked unsure, but Victoria beamed at him. The boy flushed, but he got up and engaged in explaining his game, blissfully unaware that Victoria had every card in mint condition, had every foil card, every rare/super/ultra-rare card, and had every card in its ghost rare form. She also had encyclopedic knowledge of lore, rules, and strategies.

Asteria watched Bianca disappear into Artemis' tent with an expression on her face. She knew damn well what the goddess was doing, she knew damn well that Bianca was going to say yes, and she knew damn well that Nico was going to be devastated. Being in the children's minds, she knew that Bianca saw Nico as a burden, and would see the Hunters as an opportunity to escape him.

As someone that had more or less been robbed of family her entire life, watching a sister so casually ditch her brother irked the sea princess to no end.

' _Mom?'_ Asteria looked down at Annabeth. She had finished her cube, and all the sides were complete. _'Did I do a good job?'_

The telepath nuzzled the blonde's face gently. _'You did an excellent job. Now hop up and show your sisters how to do it. I need to attend to something.'_

Annabeth got up from Asteria's lap and hopped away to give Asteria herself enough room to stand. On her feet, the hybrid made way for the tent, and Annabeth sat back down, showing off the Rubik's Cube, and going through the algorithms to solve it.

Before Asteria could enter the tent, Lucy intercepted her.

"I know what you're about to do."

Asteria raised a brow. _'Are you going to try to stop me?'_

"No," the daughter of Hecate said simply. "In fact, I'm going to do everything I can to help you."

The hybrid didn't know what to make of that. On one hand, the witch was going to help; that was good. On the other, the witch wanted to help, which was out of character; that was bad.

' _Okay...thanks. Let's go.'_

Lucy smiled, something that set off warning bells in Asteria's head. Her tail, which danced about hypnotically, went ramrod straight and her eyes narrowed. Lucy didn't react to the display of hostility, but she walked away.

Asteria watched her go, finding the sexual hip-swaying to be something of an offense. _'I thought you were going to help me.'_

Lucy turned her head to make eye contact over her shoulder. "I am...when the time comes."

With that cryptic message, Lucy joined Celyn on a log, and began instructing her younger sister on magic.

Asteria shook her head to rid herself of the off feelings, and entered Artemis' tent without preamble, permission, or introduction. Typically, this was grounds for vaporization, transmutation, or some other divine punishment, but Artemis was well aware of Asteria's intent and entrance, and so didn't say anything.

Bianca flinched when the flap was practically torn off, and she whipped around to see the scary girl with the tail and back-thingies.

' _You can't join the Hunt.'_

The di Angelo girl balked. "E-Excuse m-me?" she looked at Artemis. "Her lips-how did-?"

"Asteria is a telepath. Trust me, you want to hear her like this instead of hearing her human speech...it's terrifying."

"She just said-"

"I know what she said. Unfortunately for her, the decision of letting you join or not is up to me." Artemis levelled a silver stare at her cousin. "Of course, she is wholly allowed to provide an argument as to why I shouldn't allow you to join."

Venomous green met gleaming silver. _'She's_ _weak_ _. She's literally using the Hunt as an excuse to escape caring for her little brother. She's intentionally abandoning him to an environment teaming with people he doesn't know, directly after kicking him out of her life.'_ Asteria came bearing down on Bianca like an avalanche.

' _If you can't handle taking care of your family, how the fuck do you expect to handle being a Huntress for eternity, She Who Would Abandon Her Brother?'_

The di Angelo girl looked she had just been punched in the gut by a wrecking ball. Her breathing was labored, borderline strangled, her face pale, her eyes wide, her forehead tinged with sweat. Yes, such a physical reaction is not common with just some words, but Asteria hadn't been using just words. Mental images had been slung at Bianca's fragile mind, filling her head with phantasms of her remaining young, while her brother grew old, grey, and dead.

"Bianca?" Artemis said. "Do you have anything to counter this?"

The girl barely managed a whisper. "N-No…"

Bianca got to her feet and stumbled out of the tent.

Artemis looked at Asteria. "Did you have to be that hard on her?"

' _Did you have to pretend that you were going to allow her to join?'_

"I suppose not."

' _Then why…?'_ Asteria trailed off.

"I wanted to see if you would say something, and you did not disappoint. Thought, to destroy your argument about abandoning her brother, I could turn Nico into Nicole, and then allow both of them to join as true blood sisters."

Asteria's eye twitched, and then she was in Artemis' face, teeth bared. The moon goddess leaned back with a disturbed expression.

' _No. More. Gender bender!'_ Asteria pulled back with her arms crossed. _'There's been enough genital swapping in my life already, I do not need anymore.'_

"Would you like to hear the tale of Sipriotes?"

' _No.'_

"I was bathing alone in the forest one day," Artemis began wistfully, and Asteria tuned the goddess out. Short version: Sipriotes was turned into a girl and joined the Hunt, and then was killed by a stray shot at Gettysburg. Artemis supported the Union from that point forward.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For the rest of the night, Bianca was strangely clingy about Nico. The boy didn't mind, in fact, he was thrilled, but he found his sister's sudden want to be around him to be only a little strange. Though, his weirded-out-ness faded when Bianca showed true interest in Myth-O-Magic. The siblings shared a spare tent that night.

Asteria successfully divided her time between giving her daughters their needed attention, catching up with Drew, Katie and Will about the goings-on of camp, and throwing in snippets and quips and answers to whatever the Hunters threw at her.

' _How's Clarisse?'_

She received three blank stares.

' _You know: daughter of Ares, loud, strong, shits more than the average elephant?'_

"Well, I don't know about how much she poops…" Katie said slowly, "but I know she joined the Titans about a year and a half ago, after you returned Lord Zeus' bolt…"

Asteria blinked. _'But I saw her six months ago during the fight with the Colchis Bulls.'_

"Oh!" Katie's eyes lit up. "Yeah, that was a continuity error on The Author's part because it was so long between chapter updates that he forgot what he had written. He's also too lazy to go back in and fix it, so he's convinced himself that he just leaves it alone as a joke for people to pick up on."

Asteria stared at the daughter of Demeter. _'What?'_

"Nothing. Fourth Wall Break. Moving on."

And move on they did. Everyone went to their tents to turn in for the night, and Asteria eventually put the girls to bed as well, against Amelia's yawning protests. The mother joined her daughters in the confines of the covers, and she had a conversation with the goddess.

' _What were you able to glean from the manticore's mind, Asteria?'_

' _The di Angelos are children of Hades, the Ophiotaurus is splashing around somewhere, and the current plan to turn one of the di Angelos, capture the Ophiotaurus, and have the child perform the ritual and destroy Olympus in the name of Kronos.'_

' _I see.'_

' _And Atlas isn't under the sky anymore.'_

' _Oh...who is?'_

' _Thorn didn't know.'_

' _Damn.'_

' _Indeed. Planning on a solo hunt?'_

' _Yes.'_

' _Gonna send the Hunters to camp?'_

' _Yes.'_

' _I can't go with them.'_

' _Why not-oh. Right.'_

' _Exactly. Zoё can babysit the girls, and I can come with you.'_

' _Alright then. It's been awhile since we've hunted together.'_

' _Yes, should be fun.'_

Asteria felt Artemis wink through their connection. _'Consider it a date.'_

Asteria smirked. _'Don't let Zoё know that's how you're seeing this. She might get jealous.'_

' _Maybe, but I can assuage her jealousy with my tongue.'_

' _And we've now crossed a line. Goodnight, cousin.'_

' _Goodnight, sugartits.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Upon the morn, Apollo arrived at his sister's request, and the campers and Hunters piled into the bus after Nico asked a question and got a philosophical response.

' _All three of you had better be on your best behavior for your aunts, got it?'_

"Yes, Mommy!"

"Yeah, Momma!"

"We'll be good, Mom."

All three had their fingers crossed behind their backs, and thought they were sneaky. Asteria was not fooled, but she let it slide. After kissing each of their foreheads, the girls scampered onto the sun bus, and quickly found laps to occupy.

Drew was unhappy. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and there was a legitimate scowl on her face.

"This is bullshit," she said. "You get banned for killing that asshole, I don't get to see you at all for five months, and then I barely get to see you for five hours, and from there it's gods know long before I see you again."

Asteria enveloped Drew in a hug, standing almost a full head shorter than the half-blood. _'It's okay. We'll see each other again, I promise.'_

She leaned up and gave Drew a sisterly kiss on the cheek.

' _Look after my girls, okay?'_

The daughter of Aphrodite didn't look terribly happy, but she accepted the situation. "Okay." Then she kissed Asteria back, also on the cheek. "My nieces are safe with me."

' _If you show them any swimsuit or underwear magazines, you'll be shitting water for the next year.'_

Drew paled.

With a look of superior might on her face, Asteria joined Artemis.

"Ready?"

' _Indeed.'_

"Then let us go and kill a cow."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria followed Artemis across the continent, all the way down to Washington D.C., where the duo found themselves in the National Mall, at the Aerospace Museum. The hybrid was giving the goddess a flat look.

' _Yes, I can see why an aquatic lifeform would to come to this place. Surely, all the air-based equipment gave off an aura of appeal.'_

"Do shut up before I turn you into a jackalope."

' _Then please explain why we're_ _here_ _?'_

"I feel something from this place...a pull."

Asteria saw out of the corner of her eye-meaning just as perfectly as if she was looking right at it-a group of hoodlum boys walk down the street, vaping and shouting obscenities.

' _Would that pull happen to be your innate ability to find icky boys to punish?'_

"No, it's not that…" Artemis said seriously.

' _Maybe it's the obelisk?'_

"No, that's for the Egyptians."

' _Then perhaps it's a trap?'_

Artemis froze, then her eyes widened, then she sighed in despondency. "It's a trap."

There was a flashing light, then something like an aircraft carrier slammed into the back of her head, something that managed to evade all of her senses, and then everything was dark.

Before consciousness fully left her, Asteria had a single thought:

' _This feels so lazy…'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next she woke, she saw Luke Castellan straining under a large something. He looked like crap, with his face stained with sweat, eyes sunken in, red-skinned, gasping for breath, and his arms trembling.

He looked up.

"A-Asteria...help _me_ …!"

And there it was, yet again. That feeling within her that she couldn't place, that bubbling in her stomach, that lump in her throat, that haze in her head. It felt like an attraction, almost, but what kind of attraction-even if it was an attraction-Asteria didn't know. It was almost like with Cain, but Asteria knew what Cain was to her, or rather, all that he could be, but on the other hand, Luke did not have that luxury.

Still, Asteria gave him aid...and then he rolled away.

The full weight of the sky came bearing down on the hybrid, and to her credit, all she did was growl. Undeniably, this was the heaviest thing she had ever experienced upon her body, but it was not...unmanageable. It hurt, her muscles felt the strain, but it was not something that couldn't be ignored. Granted, her body now was fresh and ready to go, but that could be different in a day or two.

She hissed at Luke, who was gasping and panting and looking at her with the deepest regret in his eyes. There was also something else in there, the kind of something that said he wanted to say something, but knew this wasn't the right time to do so.

There was clapping, and Asteria saw Artemis, bound head to toe in bronze chains, something like a bit in her mouth, and a man who was unmistakingly Zoё's father.

Atlas grinned. "And now, all we have to do is wait for the gods to send their pawns."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **This was going to be longer and include more, but it's been long enough since an update.**_

 _ **Yes, Asteria is holding up the sky, and her body can handle it, for now. Yes, Artemis is in Celestial bronze chains. Yes, Luke is now in the prime position to make things happen.**_

 _ **Who will be on the quest, will Asteria be able to stand with the sky on her back, will Luke succeed in subverting Kronos, when will Shin'en come? All will be answered in due course.**_

 _ **For now...please Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	40. A Curse Overpowered

_The Curse Overpowered_

 _ **Okay, there's something up, because we're getting a record low amount of Reviews per chapter all of a sudden, which I find concerning considering we're close to the end. Is everyone on vacation in an area without Wi-Fi, or is it just that no one reads this anymore because it's no longer interesting, or did I do something to turn off the fans?**_

 _ **If anyone has any theories, please share, because it's like a slap in the face to binge this for everyone, only for the reception to be chirping crickets and some distant clapping.**_

 _ **Thank you to the ladies and gentlemen who have Reviewed thus far.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A full 48 hours into the greatest lift exercise on the planet, and Asteria was starting to feel the burn. It was slight, barely noticeable if she concentrated, but it was still there. Her strength could only hold out for so long, until the natural limitations of her body took their toll and she collapsed. Still, it was a confidence booster to know that she could hold the sky for two days straight without faltering.

Of course, that did nothing to assuage the boredom that came having to kneel in one location for a seeming indefinite amount of time. Sure, there was the occasional passing of monster or traitorous half-blood, an odd jeer, one encounter that almost turned sexual, but it seemed Luke was something of a man of class, because he slaughtered cyclops. Asteria thought he was going to confess whatever he had on his mind, but he struggled and came up short, stomping away and mad at himself.

Asteria hadn't seen Artemis, nor could she find the goddess' mind or energy, but she knew she was here. An instinct told her that Artemis was here, and Asteria obeyed her instincts. She also hadn't seen Clarisse around, which made the daughter of Poseidon wonder just where the girl was. Perhaps the _Princess Andromeda_ , perhaps another garrison, perhaps she had already been killed and used as food.

The bottom line was that Asteria was dreadfully bored, and wanted something to happen.

So, naturally, something happened.

' _Mom!'_

Asteria's head snapped to the distorted sound, and saw the ghostly form of her youngest. Annabeth looked both panicked and relieved, truthfully the most emotion that had been on her little face in a while.

' _Aunt Zoё said she had a dream about you getting captured, and there was a CTF game, and the Oracle came down and gave a prophecy, and there was a meeting, and a quest was issued, and-'_

' _Annabeth, are you on that quest?'_

' _Yes.'_

' _And your sisters?'_

' _They weren't smart enough to stowaway, and I couldn't hide all three of us.'_

Asteria valiantly kept her displeasure with that off her face, and mental tone. _'Does your Aunt Zoё know about this?'_

' _Yes.'_

' _And what did she say?'_

' _She said what I knew she would say:_ 'we're too far along; you'll have to join us; I hope Asteria doesn't kill me for this _. Aunt Zoё is predictable.'_

' _Yes, she is. Who else is with you besides Aunt Zoё?'_

' _Aunt Thalia, Aunt Drew, and a satyr named Grover. He's weird.'_

Yeah, that's the same satyr that brought you to camp, formed a friendship with you, and you don't remember him. Asteria had become skilled at thinking and not broadcasting her thoughts while in telepathic contact. However, she noticed something.

' _Five_ _on the quest? How?'_

' _The prophecy said_ 'Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,' _and so five went.'_

' _Since you stowed away, making five, what happened to the original fifth member?'_

' _Aunt Phoebe got sick and couldn't go.'_

Asteria raised a brow. _'Sick with what?'_

' _Herpes.'_

' _...what?'_

' _Well, it looked like Herpes, but it wasn't actually Herpes, because Herpes is a sexually transmitted disease, and none of the Hunters can transmit sexually transmitted diseases because of Aunt Artemis' blessing.'_

' _Fascinating information. I'm impressed that you know so much about the ins and outs of STDs in the face of divine blessings.'_

Annabeth beamed, the dryness in her mother's mental tone flying right over her head. _'How close to Mt. Tamalpais are you?'_

' _We're at the National Mall. Did you know that the Washington Monument is 555 feet tall, and was designed by Robert Mills, and construction started in 1848, and ended in 1885, and cost 28,000 dollars, which would be 18,000,000 dollars today?'_

' _Wow, I didn't know all of that.'_ Of course, Asteria knew all of that. _'Listen, the National Mall is where Artemis and I were ambushed. Be careful, there may still be traps in place.'_

Annabeth's astral projection nodded. _'Okay, Mom. I'll be careful, I promise. And don't go anywhere, we'll be there soon.'_

Asteria nodded strongly. _'I await your arrival.'_

Annabeth nodded just as strong, and then she faded.

The mother of three couldn't help the snort that escaped her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the night of the second day, leading into the third morning, Atlas finally decided to show himself and host conversation.

"Asteria Jackson," he greeted cordially. "Seeing as how Kronos is my uncle and your grandfather, and I am the cousin of the Olympians, I am your second cousin."

' _Hi. Would you mind taking this load off my shoulders? I have three little girls to pick up from daycare.'_

"Ah, I was told of your telepathic abilities, but to actually experience them is something else, and do not worry about your children. Amelia and Ariel are safe at camp, and Annabeth is on her way to our tender care," Atlas smiled.

Asteria wasn't smiling. _'Touch my daughter, and I'll use you as breeding material.'_

"I don't know what that means, but it sounds kinky. I might just take that threat to see how it pans out."

Asteria hissed lowly, mouth opening wide to reveal the brilliant and wickedly sharp teeth within.

Atlas smirked. "What an animal you are...what an animal your father allowed you to become. If it wasn't for his negligence, you would never have been taken and tortured, your mother killed, your friends murdered, your body altered. Can you see just how _bad_ the Olympians have allowed the world to become?"

' _Yes, and you ruling would be even worse, but then you'd counter with something the lines of this, this, and that, and I'd counter with that, that, and this. And then we'd go back and forth, railing philosophy and fact at each other until we're blue in the face...which is impossible, because you're an immortal and don't need to breathe, and I don't breathe in the first place. The point is: there is no point in us arguing, because you'll never convince me to join the Titans, and I'll never convince you to surrender while you have a chance. Nice talk, Atlas, go away now.'_

The Titan's good mood had evaporated. "You can be as defiant as you like, little girl, but the Titans will win, and we _will_ reign supreme. Once we have the Ophiotaurus, it'll all be downhill from there."

' _Even if you give the power of the Ophiotaurus to some random footsoldier, the prophecy still hinges on a child of the Big Three.'_

Atlas' grin was evil. "I know. Tell me, how far are you willing to go for your daughter?"

Asteria's eyes narrowed, and then she attacked. Not with her tail or her acid spray, but with her mind. She assaulted the Titan Atlas with everything she had, and the effects were evident. Zoё's father collapsed, writhing in pain, hands on his head, tossing on the ground like a child having a nightmare, or an adult having an aneurysm. Atlas screamed, and then he glowed.

The blast of Titanic power made Asteria wince like she was just slapped in the face with high winds, but that was about it. Her assault was ended, and Atlas was mad, _ichor_ leaking from his ears and nose. He had almost been sent to Tartarus.

"Pray... _pray_ you are never given to me."

Atlas spun around and stormed away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And then Luke came.

He stared at Asteria, and she stared back. He was conflicted, his face tight, his eyes swimming with too many emotions to decipher within a set timeframe. His poster was rigid, he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say, and there was apprehension in him, the underlying nervousness of being caught.

Asteria didn't do anything, she just continued to watch him, keeping her own inner conflict off her face.

Finally, Luke swallowed, and took a deep breath. "I can't betray him...my oath…" he struggled with his words, choosing them carefully so as to not incur the wrath of the Styx. Asteria got the message, though.

Luke fell to his knees, hands over his ears, eyes wide and bloodshot. Aster (gently) ripped through his memories, and she saw everything she needed to see. The head of the daughter of Athena bobbing in the sink, how everyone else on board had forgotten she had existed, how Luke came to grips with the reality of his situation, and how he wanted to right things...in a way.

The son of Hermes wanted the rule of the Olympians to cease, as he had no faith in them anymore, but he recognized that Kronos was not the way. Granted, Asteria couldn't think of viable solution, beyond major reform, and Uncle Zeus wasn't the one to change.

The telepath exited Luke's mind, and the teen shakily got to his feet. "S-So now you know…"

' _I do.'_

"What are you going to do?"

' _I don't know yet. I need time to think.'_

"It looks like you've got plenty of time to do that."

' _Very funny.'_

"Is that even heavy?"

' _Increasingly. My body can only handle this for so long.'_

"Are you alright?" The concern in Luke's voice was touching.

' _I'll be better when Atlas is back where he belongs, and my daughters are with me.'_

"Oh, yeah...Annabeth."

It had never occurred to Asteria that Luke would know what happened to the little girl he had rescued so many years ago, or how he would feel about it.

"I hear you're her mother now...that's good. She deserves a break at happiness, and you're a better mother than Athena ever could be."

' _You know that's not fair, Luke.'_

Anger flashed through his eyes. "Yes, the Ancient Laws forbid direct contact, and all that bullshit. If that's the case, then why bother having children in the first place, when you know you're only going to be able to watch and not say anything, and stand idle, even when your child is in dire trouble? Why bother flinging a child on a single parent, who never wanted children in the first place? Why _doom_ you kids to a life of misery and suffering, knowing you can do nothing about it!?"

Luke's voice rose until he was shouting.

Asteria never broke eye contact, never blinked, but she did think. Why _did_ the Olympians sire and mother children, when they knew what kind of life they were being born in to? Why did Zeus sire Thalia, and Jupiter, Jason, with Beryl, when he knew of the prophecy? Why did Poseidon sire her, knowing of the prophecy? Why did Aphrodite mother so many children? Why did Apollo sire so many children?

Sex drive? The need for physical contact? Blue balls? Seven-year itch? Or was the answer much simpler, much more cliché and cheesy?

Did the Olympian gods bring forth so many children because they felt love for their mortal partners?

The more Asteria thought down that line, the more she came to the conclusion that was the answer. They were gods, after all, being magnified beyond human in every category, including the capacity to love others. In most cases, anyway.

"If you say it's because of love, I will throw up on you."

' _Fine, it's because they just want to put their penises in a vagina or want a penis in their vagina...or their anus. Depends on the preference, I suppose.'_

Luke gave her a flat look. "As vulgar as that is, you're still highly correct." Silence overcame them for a time, until the son of Hermes spoke again.

"What are we to each other, Asteria?"

' _...I don't know. I don't think we'll ever know. We've had years to ponder this, and we've both come up short.'_

"Would you call us friends?" Luke asked slowly.

' _No.'_

"Acquaintances?"

' _Yes, but this feels more than that.'_

"Yeah...are we...are we...is it love?"

For all that she knew of romantic love, Asteria didn't know.

Luke looked understandably uncertain as he moved, but he kneeled down in front of Asteria, thoughts of being tricked into holding the sky not even flickering across his mind. Asteria knew what was coming, and she didn't do anything to stop it. He leaned in, his eyes closing, and Asteria's own eyes closed…

And then they were kissing.

But there was nothing to it. No fire, no electricity, no jolt, no feeling other than their lips were touching. Asteria noted that Luke's were cracked and dry, a sign of stress and dehydration, and Luke noticed that Asteria's were cool and smooth, like a mirror.

The son of Hermes pulled away. "Well, it's not love."

' _No.'_

Luke stood, masking his turmoil with apathy and indifference. "At their current pace, the quest will be here tomorrow night, hours before the winter solstice officially happens. Please, devise a method that will help."

He left and Asteria pondered just how she could help Luke from out of Kronos' thumb, while also assisting in Luke's aspiration. The daughter of Poseidon wasn't stupid; she could look around at the world and see that the Olympians have become lazy and sloth-like, and something needed to be done. However, where Luke wanted to dethrone the gods, Asteria recognized that the gods were still needed, even if there were Egyptian, Norse, Aztec and others around to take over the positions.

As Asteria pondered, thought, and theorized, running through possible meetings, deals, arrangements, sit downs, and all other forms of negotiation, she could only see all of them coming up short. Lasting only for so long of a time. And beyond that, there was her own problems; the dreams, the feeling in her gut, in her genitals...her period was fast approaching, and with it, a genocide.

She couldn't afford to die or be killed.

As Asteria considered all this, the need for change, the need for power, the need for _survival_ , she only saw one immediate option to satisfy all issues, and that option was what had gotten her and Artemis captured in the first place.

The entrails of the Ophiotaurus.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the waning hours of the final day, the sky was starting to hurt. Her muscles were beginning to hurt, her joints were aching, and she wasn't entirely sure her bones weren't beginning to undergo stress fractures. It all worked out though, because she could feel the approaching vibrations of important people.

"Mom!"

Annabeth came running onto the scene, followed by Zoё, Thalia, Drew and Grover the satyr.

"Mom! Are you okay?" Everyone gathered around where Asteria was preventing the sky from coming down on earth.

' _Perfectly fine. Artemis is over there, bound in Celestial Bronze chains, and Atlas and Luke are behind you.'_

Thalia's eyes snapped to where Asteria indicated Artemis was at, Zoё locked eyes with her father, who emerged from the shadows, smiling, followed by Luke, whom Grover stared at with apprehension, and Annabeth and Drew kept their attention on Asteria.

' _None of you even think of challenging Atlas. He's bound by the Ancient Laws and can't attack unprovoked. Free Artemis, and keep Luke and any monsters hidden the area away from the one cutting the chains. Annabeth, you stay here by me.'_

"And here comes the monkey wrench!" Atlas crowed. And then Annabeth was flying towards his outstretched hand, and he caught her head in his grip. Asteria roared in protest. Weapons were out, and a small contingent of monsters came bounding out from behind cover.

"Now, now," the Titan said, "let's everyone calm down and talk this out like civilized beings."

Annabeth kicked and struggled, grunting as she tried to free her head from her capture's hand, to no avail.

Asteria wasn't one for talking.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was approaching the witching hour at Camp Half-Blood. Curfew was in full swing, and everyone was in their cabin, save for one.

Lucy's purple eyes glowed as, for the second time in her memory, she felt a disturbance in the ether.

"So, he's arrived…"

The witch grinned. "The Blood Goddess comen."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Under the sands of Egypt, an ancient civilization lay hidden, yet bustling with activity. The First Nome, the most powerful remnant of the House of Life, the ancient order of magicians descended from the Egyptian gods...had seen better days. Within the Hall of Ages, the Chief Lector Iskandar sat before the pharaoh's throne, hieroglyphs dancing around him.

His old eyes were closed. "Did you sense it?"

From the shadows, a Frenchmen appeared. "Yes. Though I know not what it means."

Iskandar's eyes opened. "It means we're in deep shit."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hotel Valhalla physically trembled, the entire extradimensional structure undergoing a minor earthquake that lasted for all of five seconds. The residents mostly thought it some new idea by management to make things interesting, some thought that was the starting signal of Ragnarok, and there were others who thought it was simply another spat between demigods.

The management, however, the thanes, and Helgi and Hunding, and the disguised Odin in the guise of X, all knew better.

 _Something_ had just come _through_ , and it was something worse than Loki by lightyears.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria's eyes were pure black and she snarled and growled, her fury at what Atlas was going to _her daughter_ overcoming everything else. Fatigue was washed away, strain disappeared, and new energy surged through her body.

To the horror and amazement of everyone watching, the daughter of Poseidon began to _stand up_. The ground cracked under her foot as she rose from a kneel, and it cracked even more when she brought her back foot forward to stand on a wide base. Snapping and snarling, Asteria's legs slowly locked themselves out...and then she stepped forward.

The wind began to blow, the trees groaned, the statues and pillars of Mt. Othrys began to crack, and above, the night sky, it began to _move_ , pulled to and fro by the sheer might of a pissed off Asteria Jackson.

The color drained from Atlas' face as she took another step, and another, and another; each fall of her foot caused the granite under her to crack and buckle. The monsters shuddered, trembled, their weapons clattering to the ground. With shrieks of panic, they ran down the mountain, terrified of the monster moving the sky.

Atlas was so stunned that he dropped Annabeth. "I-Impossible...she's walking...with the full weight of the sky...on her back…"

"Yes, I'm also impressed with her power, though I hear a mother can perform feats of terrific strength when their children are in danger."

"No kidding…"

…

Atlas looked to who had spoken, and he nearly flew out of his skin. "What is this!?"

His outcry drew attention away from Asteria, but no one saw what made the Titan have a moment of panic beyond seeing a demigoddess hauling the sky. Atlas stumbled and tripped over his own feet, and came down hard. A foot slammed next to his head, shattering the ground. The Titan whimpered when he saw the colorless eyes of the Princess of Death, her lips pulled back to reveal twin rows of gleaming teeth.

Drops of saliva fell upon Atlas' face, and his body became locked by terror. With a low growl coming from the depths of her throat, Asteria shifted, and the sky came down with blistering force on Atlas' chest. He screamed at the sudden weight on him, his scream sounding like a strangled gurgle.

With a blink, her iris and pupil reappeared in her eyes.

"Mom!" Annabeth ran to her mother and jumped in her arms...which had the interesting effect of knocking Asteria flat on her back, though she was propped up by her dorsal tubes.

"Uh, Aster?" Drew said, "did a fifty pound toddler just knock you over?"

' _I'm tired, and my muscles hurt. I did just hold the sky for five days straight, and then I took it on a lovely stroll across the mountain. Shut up.'_

"C-Curse you!"

"Can it, Baldy," Drew snapped.

"Luke! Attack! Attack!"

Everyone looked at the traitorous son of Hermes, ready to fight and subdue him. Artemis had been freed of her bonds, and she was fresh and ready to rumble.

Castellan exhaled. "I declare this endeavor unprofitable. Good day, friends and family of Asteria Jackson."

He produced an amulet, the stone glowed green, and he was sucked into a vortex of green energy, before he disappeared, his eyes caught Asteria's, a message passing between them. Then he was gone.

"Well," Thalia said, "that felt anticlimactic."

Asteria, still on the ground, felt the weight of another entity, and she snapped to look in its direction. She saw nothing there.

"Is everything alright, Asteria?" Artemis asked.

With narrowed eyes, she said, _'No. This isn't over yet. Something's here, and we're not going to find it no matter how hard we look.'_ Using her tail, she rose to a stand, still holding the four-year-old Annabeth on her hip. _'Let's just get to Olympus. I believe there's a meeting tonight.'_

With great feelings of unease, Artemis ferried the hunters and campers to the mountain in the sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The meeting was a war declaration, commendations for the half-bloods, the Ophiotaurus was put in an aquarium, and Asteria got her own personal constellation for being the only half-blood ever to hold and move the sky. With the Winter Solstice party in full swing, with gods and half-bloods dancing, drinking, sneaking off, and having a good time, Asteria pulled Zoё off to the side for a brief side conversation.

' _What did California look like?'_

The huntress knew immediately what was truly being asked. "Ruins, water, and the smell of clean air. A stretch of land that once belonged to man that was given back to nature, and nature has taken good care of it."

' _I see.'_

"I thought it was a wonderful place."

' _I know you would. Did you run into Annabeth's mortal parents, by any chance?'_

"No. I do believe they live somewhere in Arkansas, now. We did not go through Arkansas."

' _Good. I didn't want my baby exposed to any more incest than what already has been.'_

"Agreed. I shall take my leave now. Katie is getting into the wine with her father."

Zoё hastily left to stop the daughter of Dionysus from getting slammered, and Asteria was by herself suddenly. Her daughters were being watched by Octavia and Victoria back at camp, because three little girls had no place for a party such as this, and neither Victoria nor Octavia wanted to attend this madness.

"Excuse me, may I have this dance?"

Asteria looked at who had spoken, and she had no problem with it. _'You may, Brother.'_

For the first time since her reveal to the Olympians, Triton met his little sister face to face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While the children of the sea became better acquainted with each other, not all was happiness among the Winter Solstice partygoers, but nor was it necessarily negative.

In the shadows of a temple, Lucy joined the dark figure.

"Welcome back, Shin'en."

The Akatsuki Swordsman hummed lowly.

"I know what you've been up to, you know. It must be hard for you to see Asteria."

"Your attempts to bait me into a reaction are annoying."

"I suppose. So, since you're here, I trust that means my Blood Goddess is about to start puberty?"

"Yes."

Lucy shuddered. "Excellent. Though this does bring conflict with others. They won't lay down and simply let Asteria run amok."

"No, but that is why I'm here. I will handle the Greeks. Do you want the Norse or the Egyptian?"

"I'll handle the House of Life. It's been awhile since I've engaged in magical combat, and I wonder how Iskandar is doing, but what about the Norse? While we can split ourselves, those gods have the strongest supporting forces, with their thousands upon thousands of einherjar feeding them prayer."

"The Norse will be handled...I brought a friend."

"Who?"

" _Hi_."

Lucy looked behind her, and she saw a pair of mismatched eyes, one was sea green, the other silver, and his hair was two-toned, with white roots and black tips.

"Oh. It's _you_."

"Yes, it's me."

Shin'en looked over the crowd, his eyes on Asteria as she danced and conversed with Triton.

"Enjoy this while you can, all of you. Within the week, life as you know it will cease to exist."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **And so this chapter ends, with Shin'en's subtle entrance, and the doling out of gods to deal with. He will handle the Greco-Roman deities, Lucy the Egyptian, and a surprise visitor will be sticking it sideways to the Norse.**_

 _ **Think of them as the harbingers that will ferry the world into Asteria's bloody hands. Next chapter, shit hits the fan.**_

 _ **Oh, and how about Asteria having the physical strength to stand and move the sky?**_

 _ **And what will be the fate of Bessie?**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review!**_


	41. The Abyss and the Death Princess

_The Abyss and the Death Princess_

 _ **Right…so, after basically complaining about a lack of Reviews, I get an influx of Reviews numbering higher than 30. We even went over 700. While not ungrateful, complaining and then getting something is not how the world works, and that system is how we got whiney millennials…so in other words:**_

 _ **THANKS EVERYONE FOR 700 REVIEWS!**_

 _ **So, this chapter is the final prelude. Asteria will meet Shin'en, she will learn about what is to happen, and she will decide what is to be done. After this, it's all over.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own AVP, PJO, Naruto, or Claymore

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was going about just like any other day. The Hunt was breaking camp for the day, taking down their tents, packing their gear, eating breakfast, Asteria's girls crowded around her as they inhaled their scrambled eggs. And then Asteria seized up, eyes locking onto a spot deep in the trees, her dancing tail going rigid.

The Hunters noticed, Amelia, Annabeth, and Ariel noticed, and the whole of nature noticed. Birds and insects went quiet, the wind stilled, the temperature went from its comfortable warmth, to a breath-revealing chilly, and the sun became hidden by a blanket of light grey clouds.

"Asteria," Zoё said tensely, "what's out there?"

The telepath's eyes narrowed. _'Something dark…something dangerous…'_ she tilted her head, eyes narrowing even further. _'Something familiar. None of you follow me.'_

"Mommy?" Amelia asked.

Asteria gave her oldest a reassuring smile. _'I won't be gone long. Behave and keep an eye on your sisters.'_

"Okay, Mommy, you can me!"

' _That's my girl.'_

Asteria moved her daughters from her lap and rose to her feet. This time, she spoke only to her sisters. _'None of you leave this camp. None of you let anyone in this camp. I'll be back soon.'_

She blurred into the forest, leaving behind several apprehensive near-immortals.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She found the source of these feelings ten miles away from the camp, in a dead part of the forest. The trees here were barren and lifeless, the ground covered in dead grasses and leaves. A boulder was emerging from the ground, covered in dark moss, cracked and radiating a dark aura, but not as dark as the person sitting on top of it.

Blue sandals, white legwarmers, blue pants tucked into the legwarmers, and the rest of their body covered by a high-collared black cloak, with long sleeves, a red interior, and was decorated by a few red clouds with a white outline. Long, well-kept, clean, and arranged into several strands, the bangs of which cascaded over their eyes, and the rest spilled under the cloak's collar.

They were sitting in with their right leg pulled to their chest, their right arm draped across the knee, and Asteria saw a ring on the ring finger, one with a silver band and a red stone, a Japanese kanji on the stone, the one for "Lord." The left hand was resting on a black staff, five feet long, which itself was placed on the boulder.

Asteria's lips slowly curled back, her black gums and pearly teeth revealed in a threatening manner. Whoever was before her incited feelings of being threatened, a danger, something that was to be killed on the spot and shown not an ounce of mercy or leniency…but something held her back. The person on the boulder also felt familiar, like she had met them in a distant time so long ago.

Asteria supposed this feeling was more closely related to the feeling someone had when they went to the kitchen for something, and then forgot what it was they were getting. The burning feeling in their head as they tried to get electricity back to the cells that contained the appropriate memory.

She hissed in frustration, and warning, at the figure on the boulder, and the problems they were causing simply by sitting there.

"Hello, Asteria. It's been a while."

The deepness of the voice confirmed a male gender, but the knowing of her name set off enough warning bells in the hybrid's head that she attacked. She sprinted forward with nary a sound, and leapt up, closing the two dozen foot gap at four hundred miles an hour. She didn't what happened next, but suddenly she was crashing through trees, her head swimming as if she had just taken a mighty blow upside her skull.

When she stopped, she heard a hissing sound as something was melted, and she saw that ground next to her was sizzling because something was dripping on it. Asteria brought a hand to her head, and it came away covered in her blood. She dabbed at the area of the bleeding, and found the apparent fracture had already healed itself.

Okay, that had hurt.

And yet, she had felt no ill vibes, no malicious intent. Only someone protecting themselves against an attacking force like they were swatting away a hungry mosquito. Asteria didn't know whether to feel insulted by that analogy, or soothed knowing she wasn't facing a true threat; just someone that invoked tremendous feelings of unease.

Asteria trudged back to the clearing with the boulder upon which the young man sat. Based on his posture, he wasn't looking at her.

"Are you going to attack me some more, or can we host a conversation like civilized folk?"

' _Who are you?'_

Asteria felt the figure's smirk. "So…that Fates did block your memory, and you have yet to break the magic…though I can feel you are trying. Allow me to assist in moving this forward."

The head seemingly turned towards her, and she saw a pair of blazing scarlet lights behind that black curtain. Asteria was sucked into their pull, and she heard a single, powerful, clear word, one that shattered the block in her mind, and made the cells in her head containing the memory of why she was in the kitchen reignite with fervent electricity.

" _Remember."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Asteria's head came back into focus, it did so with perfect recollection and clarity of past events. She looked at the young man on the boulder, regarding him warily.

' _Me, from another world.'_

"Hi," Shin'en deadpanned.

Asteria remembered perfectly, her alternate self. His black ensemble, his grinning white mask, his strength and awesome power…and his madness, his burning insanity, the crazed fire that surrounded him. All of that was gone now. The heat in his eyes was gone, the rigidness of his posture was gone, and there was a calm around him now, a calm that was very much like her own.

Asteria also recalled other things about her alternate self. The things he had done in the Mist—some of them anyway. The telepath had no doubt that there were many things that he did not show her—Yūrei, and his own elder twin sister, Persephone.

Little bits and pieces of his life.

The only reason Asteria wasn't outright assaulting Shin'en, was because now she was curious. Why was he here? While the two didn't necessarily part on either good or bad terms, they did not part as friends, and yet she could feel no hostility from him. In fact, Asteria felt…sadness, nostalgia, regret, wistfulness, and, dare she say… _happiness_ …coming from this cold-blooded murderer.

Just what had happened in the time between then, and now?

' _Why are you here, Shin'en?'_

"Do you want the long version, or the short version?"

' _Give me the short version, and then elaborate.'_

"I'm here to deliver the world to you."

Asteria's mental gears came to a grinding halt. _'What?'_

Shin'en slid off the boulder, and walked till he was standing in front of her. Asteria noticed how they were the same height, how their faces were exact replicas of the other, minus the black exoskeletal skin, how they looked the same age, and just how much depth was in those red eyes.

"I am here…to ensure that you are not killed…while you propagate."

'… _are you saying that, during my coming period, which is going to be like I've seen in my dreams, when I'm going on a rampage, you're going to protect me?'_

"Yes."

' _Protect me from what?'_

"Anything," Shin'en answered sharply.

Asteria's eyes narrowed. _'You know more about what's about to happen to me than I do, don't you?'_

"Oh, it shouldn't be too hard for you to piece it together. Let's start with this: when a Queen starts a Hive, when does she stop?"

Asteria didn't need to ponder this, for the answer was instinctual, engraved in her genetic code. _'She'll stop when there's no more material left to use for harvesting.'_

"Correct. How does a Queen determine there is no more material left?"

' _When she can no longer sense the minds of other organics, or has no other means of spreading to other areas in which she does sense the minds of other organics.'_

"Correct. Now then, upon your ascension to Queen-hood, which you will do upon menstruation, when much more will happen to you besides some blood loss and cramps, and a new hormonal outlook, what on earth do you think is going to stop you from spreading across the planet?"

For the second time during their reunification, Asteria's mental gears were stopped in place, and then they slowly rebooted. _'You're saying I'm going to propagate across the whole Earth, harvesting every lifeform I come across?'_

"More or less. You'll most likely determine some creatures aren't worth the effort, or some need to be killed outright. Can you see why that's something of a problem?"

' _The Olympians won't allow that. They'll stop me before I kill too many.'_

"True," Shin'en agreed, "but how? Are they going to kill you? Lock you up? Seal you away? You do realize this isn't going to be a one-time thing, right? Every time your period comes, you will ravage the population until there's nothing left. We're talking about an extinction event that humanity will never recover from—and then you've got to ask yourself: what are the Olympians going to do about your girls?

"You're already going to be hard enough to stop as it is, and since you are favored by all but maybe two or three of the gods, they will not seek to neutralize you with lethal intentions. Instead, they will explore all conceivable methods of bringing you down without harming you. Eventually, they're going to come across your girls, and they may or may not use them as leverage. The same could be said about the Titans, who are more or less a nonfactor at this point, but still."

Shin'en's aura weighed heavily upon Asteria, making her knees almost wobble from the strain of keeping her standing. "Within the next 48 hours, you will become a walking extinction event, and the only way to stop you will be to kill you, and even then, you'll fight your way out of the Underworld. Understandably, no pantheon will roll over and let you slaughter humanity, and you can only handle so many deities before you're overwhelmed, thus, my presence. Happy New Year."

Asteria held Shin'en's gaze, but only because she was digesting this information. Essentially, what she had just been told, was that if she were a normal girl, she was going to go on a killing spree during her period, and the person before her was going to actively fight off the police and all other forms of law enforcement to ensure that she wasn't captured, locked up, or killed. However, Shin'en never stated _why_ he was here to do that.

' _Why are you going to do that?'_

"Because," he said coolly, "that is the way things are meant to be. You will claim this earth no matter what. I've been brought in to ensure a relatively smooth transition of power."

Asteria's eyes narrowed. _'You're beating around the bush, giving me misdirecting answers and half-truths._ _Why_ _are you going to help me turn the world into my Hive?_ _Why_ _are you going to fight off gods so I can do that? Give me a straight answer.'_

The air around them changed, almost becoming solemn. Asteria felt Shin'en's gaze on her, regarding her, seeing something beyond her, or was he seeing it right next to her. After a thick moment of silence, he turned to look off into the distance.

"Petty reasons, I suppose, yet personal ones."

After that cryptic response, Asteria tried to read his mind, to pry it apart and find the answers herself. She was thrown back by a psychic dragon roar. She didn't physically stumble, but her head did swim, like she had stood up too fast. Looking back at Shin'en, she couldn't tell if he was looking at her due to the fact that his eyes were glowing pure vermillion behind that black curtain of hair, but he spoke directly at her.

"Don't ever do that again. I won't be so kind next time."

And yet, she had still managed to see something, something shocking.

She saw herself, as a human teen, arm draped around a teenage Annabeth's shoulders, Annabeth doing the same to her. They were smiling, with the backdrop being a clear blue sky, a cliff, and the sea behind them. They were happy, lovers, even, and the scene looked to be viewed by someone outside their POV; most likely Shin'en.

' _What was that?'_

"My personal mental guard dog."

' _Not that,'_ Asteria hissed, and she gently pushed the image she had seen against Shin'en's mind, _'_ _that_ _.'_

She saw as he visibly darkened, and she knew that whatever the context of that image was, it dredged up bad memories, and yet was tied directly to his 'petty' reasons, his 'personal' reasons.

At his lack of response, Asteria said quietly, _'Shin'en...what's happened these past two years?'_

He didn't answer immediately, but he eventually exhaled heavily. "I knew we were going to get to this point, I just didn't expect it to be this soon...oh, well. I guess it can't be helped." This time, he looked directly at her, eyes glowing just like before. "Brace yourself, for everything you've ever wished for will be granted, and then ripped away…"

Asteria once again allowed herself to be sucked into that crimson vortex, and nothing she ever could have faced could have ever prepared herself for what she _saw_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Annabeth's psychological trauma dealt to her by her parents, and how she came to cope with it.

Her own psychological damage, or rather _his_ own damage, and the sacrifices _he_ had made for Sally's happiness.

Sally...Asteria had never known her mother, and all she had to go on were pictures and stories from her father, but, in all actuality, the memories she had just seen were Asteria's literal first impression of her mother, and she wasn't sure what to make of that.

The orchestrated car accident, the injection of the mind-reading serum, the downward spiral into a warped and twisted body, and the fateful meeting with Annabeth. Asteria watched the relationship bud, struggle, and blossom.

She saw the homecoming dance, in which one individual thought it was a good idea to 'credit card' Annabeth, and ended up feeling her pull-up, and nearly yelled it to everyone on the dance floor, only for Shin'en to snap his neck.

She saw the debates and arguments about current events, about religion and philosophy, the chemistry between the three young adults.

Asteria saw armed gunmen attempt to rob the grocery store her other self and Annabeth worked at, only for Shin'en to arrive and slaughter the lot of them. She saw him handle customers as he took to a check stand and labor for free, and as he completely destroyed the complaints of people and be a total dick to some for no other reason than that the people in question needed to be knocked down several pegs, and he was feeling rude.

The best part of that was that amongst all the complaints people brought to the office due to Shin'en's misconduct and rudeness, there wasn't a thing Annabeth or Asteria or any other manager could do besides tell Shin'en to leave, because he wasn't an actual employee and was therefore not under their jurisdiction.

Asteria saw herself put on a dress against all protest, swallowing her pride to attend Annabeth's baptism as she converted to the faith, and she saw Shin'en wear a formal suit to the event as well, forgoing his cloak. She saw Annabeth at work, on her period, bleeding almost profusely-her face pale, eyes unfocused, movements sluggish, legs unstable-and she collapsed, only for Shin'en to break her fall, and take her to his house, Asteria following.

She saw them racing down the highway, barreling down the road at over 200 miles per hour, Shin'en, for all intents and purposes, jogging alongside. She saw the police sirens light up, and then the real fun began.

Asteria saw Maximum Ride, alive and breathing once again, as the store director. She saw the twisted version of her old friend, someone with a toilet fetish that masturbated via a live feed to the women's restroom, and how she used that feed to blackmail Annabeth into giving up most of her wages...and then she saw herself come onto the scene, get Max fired, and then had her killed and her body dumped in a river.

She saw holidays. She saw the tensest Thanksgiving ever, with dinner in the mansion. She saw Shin'en's first celebrated Christmas, in which he was given five whole cartons of assorted cigarettes, and since each carton was seventy bucks a piece, it spoke volumes of just how much closer they had become since the first day of school. It spoke even more volumes when Shin'en had also invested in Christmas presents, getting Annabeth a package of Goodnites, and getting Asteria a home gym and a few bottles of testosterone pills.

And she saw Marian Janssen. To make a long story short, Asteria knew new levels of hatred and loathing for the woman. Hatred for how she had brainwashed Sally, loathing for how she practically force fed her (Asteria) hormone pills until she had a body that boys drooled over and girls were envious of.

And she saw two more events.

The first was a warm spring day, in her other self's lavish room. The speakers around the TV were set to full blast, "Summer of '69" shaking the chandelier and the windows. She and Annabeth were having an absolute ball, bodies moving to the beat of the song across the fluffy pink carpet. Shin'en was just sitting on the ground, cross-legged, cross-armed. His head was slightly bowed, his eyes closed, and the barest traces of a smile were on his face. The song ended, and Annabeth and Asteria collapsed, breathless and grinning, into Shin'en's lap.

Even in her recovering state, the sea princess couldn't stop the smile that pulled at her lips...but that smile faded when the last event played across her mind.

Death, destruction, chaos, pain. Annabeth's suicide, her own mad spiral, murdering Annabeth's parents and half-brothers, and her own birth mother, being shot by Janssen, and then electing to bleed out on the floor and die. Asteria saw her body crumble to ash, just as Annabeth's body had been uncaringly cremated by her parents, and Asteria watched Shin'en.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She came back to the present, her mind focusing and clearing after the experience. Asteria looked at Shin'en, and she saw that he was looking at her as seriously and hard as ever. There was no solemn depth, no kicked puppy look, so glassy sheen or misty covering.

If anything, it looked like he was challenging her to pity him, and pity wasn't something Asteria had in her...but she did have gratefulness. Asteria wrapped her arms around Shin'en's neck, pressing her forehead to his. _'You did so much for them. Thank you.'_

Shin'en's own arms came to wrap around her waist, above her tail, and below her dorsal tubes. "It wasn't enough," he said lowly.

' _Perhaps from your point of view,'_ Asteria's tail slowly snaked around them, unconsciously. _'To them, it was everything and more.'_

"How can you be sure?"

' _Because I'm a girl. We know these kinds of things.'_

Asteria felt Shin'en almost smile. "I've missed you."

If he had said that before the memories were shown, she would have felt like snakes were slithering around inside her. Now, a foreign warmth spawned in her chest.

"Now let go of me so we can move things along."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

' _What happens now?'_

"Waiting. I suspect that sometime tonight or this evening your period will start, and then everything becomes uncertain. You could harvest everyone around you, regardless of personal connection, or you could spare them, or you could simply slaughter them. As much as I know, there is much I do not know."

' _I see...and my daughters? The dreams I've been having, three cocoons.'_

"If I had to guess, you will do them what happened to you," Shin'en said academically. "Through some chemical process involving proteins and enzymes, you'll turn them into hybrids, just like you are. Granted you can get your hands on them in the first place. I suppose it all comes down to what you want to happen to them."

' _...'_

"Keep in mind you're going to bring about a new world order with you and yours as the dominant species. I believe most mothers would want their daughters to be prepared for everything that may or may not happen."

' _Okay, say I hybridize them...I have no idea how to do that, nor do I have any idea how I'm going to propagate.'_

"Your body will figure itself out."

Silence fell between them, before Shin'en broke it. "What do you want to do? You have the potential to kill them all, even the gods, and you have the potential to face something that you can't overcome…"

Asteria's eyes darted back and forth over the ground as options ran through her head, then she closed her eyes and snorted with a tired smile. _'It's all coming apart, isn't it? It's over, and everything will never be the same again.'_

"Yes."

' _Any relationship I have will be ruined, all of the friends that I've made will either be killed or confined to Olympus for their safety, everyone on the earth has a death sentence, every mythological threat is now irrelevant. All that has been lead up to, Kronos, the Titans, Luke, the coming war, all meaningless now.'_

"Yes."

' _Fuck. I've heard puberty is bad, but this is ridiculous!'_

Shin'en snorted. "I seem to be managing."

' _You're not a girl!'_ seethed Asteria.

Shin'en snorted again. "With today's social climate, your saying that I'm not a girl is viable to be brought to a court of law with grounds of harassment."

' _Well then, I suppose my new world order is looking brighter already.'_

A twisted grin minutely appeared on Shin'en's face, evidenced only by the gleam in his eye, and the crinkle around his eyes, before he schooled himself. "What do you want to do?"

Asteria sobered up, and she considered what she wanted to do. Drew, Clarisse, Luke, everyone at camp flashed through her mind, her father, her step brother, her step mother flashed through her mind, and her sisters in the Hunt flashed through her mind. She didn't _want_ to kill any of them, nor did she want any of them to undergo the same genetic warping she had. She was also sure that any boy that underwent the process, and survived, would come out as a girl, and Asteria wasn't about to do that to the likes of Beckendorf or the Stoll brothers.

However, where she didn't _want_ to kill any of them, she knew deep down that she was probably going to slaughter the lot, use them as breeding material, and then dispose of the corpses without a care in the world. Without remorse. Without regret. See, that was the thing Asteria hated the most about herself.

No matter how close she got to someone, how deep their bond was, she could kill them and not feel a thing; move on to the next person.

Even now, as she ran through the death scenarios of all her friends and family, she didn't feel a thing for any of them. She heard imaginary cries of pain, and pleas for mercy, and she saw pitiful faces, twisted in pain, and hurt, and betrayal, and not a thing was felt for any of them. Not her father, not her mother, not even Drew or Zoë or Artemis, the three females she was closest to.

But when she thought of murdering Amelia, Ariel, or Annabeth, she still didn't feel any kind of regret or remorse, but she felt...revolted. _Not okay_ with it. _Opposed_ to it. Thoughts of killing her girls created strange feelings in Asteria.

She looked at Shin'en, eyes serious. _'Evacuate everyone from Camp Half-Blood and the Hunters to Olympus. Keep them all there, use force if you have to, but get the Ophiotaurus down here, and my daughters.'_

"Very well." And then, before they could part, Shin'en said, "Asteria," she paused, and he looked at her with depth in his eyes, "I'm sorry this is your future."

Asteria lingered, before turning away. _'This was inevitable. I live by killing, and my species survives through death. The law of my world is simple: them or me, and it will_ _always_ _be me.'_

She felt his weight leave the earth, and all her senses ceased to locate him. She looked at the grey sky, and felt that many, many hours had passed since she first left the Hunters camp. Before she could sprint away, she felt something wet fall down her cheek, heard it splash against the ground, and the heard the telltale sound of something melting under acid. Brining a finger to her eyes, Asteria wiped away the offending wetness, and saw the acidic green liquid that was her tear.

At the onset of what was to come, of the friendships she was to destroy, the families to ruin, and the lives to end, her one sign of mercy was this single tear.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours after Asteria left to investigate the dark phenomena, Jess was calming down a bawling Amelia, the child crying due to nothing but the sheer distress of her mother being gone for so long, Joanna was gently rocking a teary-eyed Ariel, also upset with her mother's absence, and Annabeth was calm and stoic, very daughter-of-Athena like.

But even she was concerned that her mother was gone for so long.

However, the entire situation was shattered when Artemis picked up an emergency telepathic broadcast from her cousin.

' _GET EVERYONE IN THE HUNT AND EVERYONE FROM CAMP HALF-BLOOD TO OLYMPUS, NOW!'_

The moon goddess didn't waste a single moment in flashing everyone around her to the mountain castle, nor did she waste time by _not_ occupying two spaces at once by appearing at camp at the same time she flashed her daughters, and flashed the campers.

…

That sounded just a little wrong, but anyway.

At feeling such a massive use of divine power, and feeling the whole of Camp Half-Blood and the Hunters suddenly popping in up in the throne room, the other eleven gods materialized in their thrones.

"Daughter, what is the meaning of this?" Zeus asked.

"I don't know," Artemis answered. "Earlier this morning, Asteria left our camp to investigate a strange happening, one that brought about cold and covered the skies. Hours past until just a few moments ago, when I received an urgent telepathic broadcast from Asteria, telling me to get everyone to Olympus. Thus, here we are."

Silence engulfed the throne room as everyone digested Artemis' report.

Zeus spoke up first, "Did she say why?"

"No. The urgency in her tone spurred me into action, not questioning."

"I see...where is Asteria now?"

"I presume she is still on earth."

"Okay…" Zeus was thoroughly confused, as was everyone present.

It wasn't like Asteria to just up and command a goddess to bring everyone to Olympus, especially without an explanation.

"So, my daughter," Poseidon began slowly, thinking as he spoke, "went off to investigate something, didn't return for hours, and then the next you hear from her is to get everyone here...anyone have any idea as to why?"

There was shifting and muttering, eyes caught, glances thrown, accusatory and suspicious looks delivered, before a single voice cut over the throngs of quiet conversation, silencing all.

"That would be because," everyone turned towards the doors where the voice came from, and the saw someone wearing a black cloak with red clouds, their upper face hidden by the wide brim of a straw hat that was adorned with streams of paper and a bell. The stranger lit a cigarette, and tipped up the brim of their hat.

"That would be because Asteria is about to be on her period, and she doesn't want any of _you_ to be caught in the ensuing bloodbath."

…

Even amongst the shock of seeing this Asteria lookalike, Apollo couldn't help but snort. "Ha, bloodbath, on her period, classic."

An arrow thwacked next to his head. "Shut up, Apollo," Artemis said, and she looked at the boy who looked like Asteria. "Who are you?"

"Asteria's long lost twin brother."

Artemis almost called bullshit, but that face was far too much like Asteria's, those eyes just as narrow, just as dark. Truly, the only difference between the two, beyond skin and tail, was that Asteria's eyes were a venomous green, and her 'brother's' were a dark emerald. That, and the way he caught her gaze, passing a rapid, silent message.

 _Shut up, or I'll kill you._

Typically, Artemis wouldn't take a threat like that lying down, least of all from a boy, but that air around, his aura, stopped the goddess in her tracks.

"I have a son?" Poseidon gasped. "There were _twins_ born that night?"

"Yes," Asteria's brother drew out slowly. "You need to work on your parenting if you are unaware of just how many children your lover is bearing, but anyway."

A guilty look crossed Poseidon's face, and Athena chose this moment to speak.

"First, what is your name, and second, please elaborate on why Asteria wanted everyone on Olympus due to her impending first menstrual cycle?"

"Firstly, you can call me Light. Secondly, she wanted all of you up here so she doesn't kill you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **And that's a wrap. Shin'en has arrived, and the loose ends left from**_ **Xenophobic** _ **have been tied. Complete with additional moments that went unwritten.**_

 _ **Leviathan and Lucy will wage their one-man wars against the Norse and the Egyptians, Shin'en will hold the Olympians, or slaughter them all outright, and Asteria will ravage the earth for seven days. Cain will appear, and they will fight, and their role, that has already been determined, will be solidified. The girls will be transformed, and the Ophiotaurus will be handled.**_

 **Xenomorphic** _ **is on the precipice of its end.**_

 _ **Don't miss it.**_


	42. War, Disease, Famine, and Death

_War, Disease, Famine, and Death_

 _ **This is the last chapter of an expository nature, and even then, it's only Shin'en explaining how monumentally screwed the world is. Besides that, it's the moments some have been waiting for:**_

 _ **Perseus vs. the Norse**_

 _ **Lucy vs. the Egyptian**_

 _ **The Leviathan takes the stage once again to kick godly ass, and the powers and skills of Lucy are finally revealed. Spoiler: think Doctor Strange, Dr. Fate, Zatanna, and Dr. Doom rolled into one and then outclassed by a factor of five.**_

 _ **Anyways, to the fun.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO, AVP, Claymore, or Naruto

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Firstly, you can call me Light. Secondly, Asteria wanted all of you up here so she doesn't kill you."

Silence pervaded. Thick, pregnant, and heavy. Cold settled over the throne room, the gods stiffened, the demigods paled or were confused, and the Hunters had their own varied reactions. The silence might've continued indefinitely, so Shin'en opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off/interrupted by one of the Hunters.

Catherine Fabian, the nymphomaniac lesbian daughter of Aphrodite, stepped up.

"How are Asteria's starting her period and killing all of us connected?"

Shin'en almost smirked. "Before I answer that, let me first ask you this: what does anyone here know of Xenobiology?"

Blank stares and stony faces.

"No one? Nothing? Okay, how about this: what does anyone here know of Xenomorphs?"

"Xenomorphs?" Aphrodite said.

"That must be the name of the alien creature that Asteria's DNA was spliced with," Athena muttered. "The Yautja only ever called it _Kainde Amedha._ "

"Yes, the Predators have their word for the aliens, and the aliens themselves have other words for themselves. All mean then same thing. So, anyone have any idea just what Xenomorphs do?" Light's eyes roamed around before landing on Athena, who straightened and stiffened, and then all eyes were on her.

She answered, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."

Light tilted his head from side to side. "Wise words. Okay," his voice raised. "Lore and biology lesson. Listen up, for I'm only saying this once.

"Xenomorphs are among the most dangerous and lethal creatures ever conceived. They are insectoid by a caste system, humanoid by their main source of breeding material, highly adaptive, and highly intelligent. Xenomorph Hives are matriarchal, led by a Queen that lays eggs. Inside these eggs are not, in fact, Xenomorph embryos that mature into adults, but instead a different creature. Called Egg-carriers among the species, called Facehuggers by everyone else, the creatures inside the eggs will hatch when they sense something close, and then latch onto the face of the unfortunate creature to get too close. From there, an embryo is forced down the throat of the victim, and said embryo with take on DNA strands, and eventually emerge from the chest cavity, in an eruption of blood. Granted, there are variants of this process, but it's still the same: The Xenomorph Hive spreads by killing all life that it comes into contact with, regardless of everything."

Shin'en watched as the faces of the crowd slowly morphed as their minds grasped the full gravity of what was coming.

"Puberty," Shin'en continued, "brings change in all of us. Increased muscle mass, deepening voices, chiseling of the jaw in boys, and breast enlargement, waist trimming, and hip widening in girls. However, despite the differences, there is one glaring similarity: increased desire for sexual contact. In other words…the desire to reproduce brings itself out with tremendous need, and, if you were paying attention, Asteria's reproduction methods aren't going to be as simple as letting someone's penis inside of her vagina. People are going to die, lots of people, which is why she wanted all of you up here, so you all are not among the body count."

And the silence reigned supreme once again, disturbed only by shifting and rustling.

Then…

"You're lying," Poseidon accused. "My daughter isn't like that anymore, she's changed. She no longer kills so indiscriminately like that. She has control, morals, values that have been taught to her."

"Oh, agreed," Shin'en conceded, and he smirked ruefully, "but you know what they say about the boy and the jungle…" He trailed off, surveying the mounting tension, and continued. "When Asteria starts her period to night, she will become primal, only the barest traces of her humanity left. She will ascend, assuming the caste of the Queen, and she will start a Hive of her own, one that will grow to encompass the globe, and she will use all breathing life on this rock as breeding material. Humanity will be wiped clean from the earth, and all species of animal and fish will follow."

Shin'en was smirking coldly. "It's the end of the world…Disease walks the earth, War battles the Aesir, Famine battles the Per Ankh, and Death stands before you all."

No one heard that, any of that. Everyone was still reeling from the revelation that Asteria was apparently going to commit genocide, all for the sake of…of…of a _Hive_!? Just _what_ was going on here!?

Zeus rose. "We go now to stop this before it can take place! Olympians, depart!"

The gods rose and glowed, the demigods averting their eyes in preparation of not being atomized due to seeing the release of a god's full energy. The glows faded from view from behind their lids, and they opened their eyes to see the gods still there, confused. Everyone was confused.

Zeus turned furious eyes to Shin'en. "WHAT IS THIS!?"

"The plot working against you," the demigod said. "You see, there's nothing you can do, any of you. Asteria's global conquest, her killing of everything, her world-wide Hive…it was always meant to be. It's over."

The Sky God's face purpled. " _Explain_ ," he rasped and hissed.

"From the moment of this world's conception, this was always going to be the end result. Asteria's puberty, global damnation. It cannot be stopped, and it will not be stopped, not by any of you, anyway."

Athena narrowed her eyes. She knew of the gravity of the coming information, but in light of the circumstance, she didn't care. "There are other pantheons out there. You may have found some way to keep us locked in here, but they will not stand by and watch as Asteria slaughters humanity."

"Agreed, they won't. But the other pantheons are being handled."

Athena blinked. "Being handled?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The First Nome hadn't seen this many magicians…ever. Even when the House of Life was brand-new, there hadn't been this many magicians. Granted, there had never been an incoming threat this large before. Before being told the circumstances, everyone was under the impression that Apophis had broken free, but no. Evidently, some uber-dangerous Greek demigod was coming to kill them all.

That more or less drained all sense of urgency from the forces, but when Chief Lector Iskandar called, you answered, regardless of the reason.

Still, despite the evident reason for the call, there was an undeniable layer of tension in the air.

Iskandar wasn't his happy grandfatherly self, Desjardins was even more up tight than he usually was, and Vladimir Menshikov was here, and just him, but _them_. The Kane brothers, Julius and Amos. With their terrible reputation and questionable loyalty—since Julius had tried to free the Egyptian gods from the Duat, which is a big no-no—it put into perspective for some just how _real_ the situation was.

If Iskandar was not only bringing in every magician from every Nome from every part of the world, but also traitors and borderline exiles, then there was something big going on. The younger magicians thought the old man was overreacting.

It was the fifth day of the gathering in the First Nome, and the strongest magicians were gathered in the War Room. Iskandar, Desjardins, Julius, Amos, and Menshikov hovered about the table with the magic pieces that represented movement the world over. Currently, all pieces that represented magicians were piled on Egypt, with an ominous black spot west of the Appalachian Mountains.

One that was swirling and writhing, as if antsy to spread and grow.

There was another piece, a curious one that was a black dragon with thirteen heads, standing on where New York was.

The air was tense, and not even Menshikov had the nerve to say something scathing to the Kanes or anyone else.

And then, to Iskandar's fear and prediction, all the pieces stacked on top of the First Nome were engulfed in a black cloud.

"Prepare the magicians," the Chief Lector said. "It's here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucy, in the form of an adult woman of their mid-twenties, strolled through the deserted streets of the Egyptian stronghold as if she owned the place. Technically speaking, she did, because when Ra gave humans magic, she helped teach how to use it. Anyway, when she rounded the corner to face a massive courtyard that hadn't been here the last time, she came face to face with no less than three thousand magicians from ages thirteen to over two thousand.

"Iskandar," the first child of Hecate greeted with a smile. "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough, monster," sneered the Chief Lector. "I see you're taking a woman's form, this time."

Lucy shrugged. "I was bored and decided to dupe the Grecian Moon Goddess. It's been a fun few centuries, I won't lie."

Desjardins found the time to mutter, "'This time'?"

"The last time this being and I fought, it took the form of a humanoid goat twice the size of a man, and it killed one hundred magicians, devouring their corpses."

"Oh…and how long ago was this?"

"12 A.D."

Desjardins turned his attention back to the witch. "What's your name, monster?"

"In this form? Lucy. In the form Iskandar described, I took the name Great Goat. I wasn't feeling original. Just hungry."

Julius brandished his staff. "What are you?"

"Oh, an extradimensional being, one with knowledge that would shatter your mind, and power beyond gods. But enough about me, what about you? Where's Carter, Julius? Did you stick him with Sadie and your in-laws, or were you able to find a babysitter?"

The most powerful Kane paled, and then he fumed. "How do you know that?"

"Knowledge beyond your comprehension."

"If you come anywhere near them, I'll—"

"Die pointlessly, yes. Besides, I have no interest in your children, though I can't say the same for the coming Blood Goddess."

"Blood Goddess?" Menshikov asked.

"Never you mind. None of you will live long enough to find out."

Staffs and wands were raised, and magic thrummed powerfully.

"You may be powerful, monster," Iskandar said, "but you are a fool to come here. Against this many magicians, you must realize…you are _doomed_."

Lucy laughed. "Oh, Iskandar…I was _ancient_ when your great-grandparents were still swimming around in your great- _great-_ grandfathers' ball sacs. I've forgotten more about magic than you've ever learned." The witch spread her arms. "Come and get it, boys and girls."

Thousands of voices cried at once. _"Ha-di!"_

The hieroglyph for "destroy" blazed brightly, and the amount of destruction unleashed completely blew apart the First Nome and splintered the ruins of Heliopolis above. Just before the detonations, Iskandar threw up a protective barrier around his forces, shielding them from the backlash, and Lucy sighed.

"So inexperienced…"

With a word of power, Iskandar cleared away the smoke and fire to reveal the witch, completely unharmed and unblemished. To add insult to injury, Lucy brushed some nonexistent dust from her shoulder.

"Before casting that spell," she said, "did any of you think to set up barrier charms to keep me from phasing myself into a pocket dimension so that I could avoid all attacks and damage? I'll take your stunned and blank looks as a 'no.'"

"Plan B!" Iskandar roared.

"Oh?"

Lucy saw that her adversaries had been organized by the five elements, sectioned off based on their elemental affinity. Bearing down on the first child of Hecate were five massive pillars of fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. She caught Iskandar layering spells into the pillars, strengthening them, increasing their ability, and she also something like a rope bind her. She took a microsecond to try and Phase Slip, but found herself rooted to this plane.

She couldn't even enter the Duat and escape what was coming.

"Well done, Iskandar. But you still have _much_ to learn." Lucy eyed the coming spires of powerful magic, magic fueled by literal thousands of magicians, and smirked. " _Nrut no ruoy sretsac."_

The pillars halted in their forward movement, and then went barreling for the magicians. Lucy had to sigh at the amount of pitifulness she was dealing. So inexperienced…no one here thought to layer in anti-hijacking spells.

When it came to magic, and battles of magic, there were so many specifics, so many stipulations. Lucy was winning this battle with nothing but sheer experience and knowledge of her trade. She knew of spells that could redirect other spells, spells that could override other spells, spells that could take other spells and warp them into something else. Honestly, the best way to describe magic was by saying it was mystical computer code.

The limit was your imagination and know-how.

Except that whenever you had a bug in your computer code, it didn't blow up in your face and kill you.

Lucy had spent millennia debugging magic, and she had a grasp over it that surpassed anyone. These Egyptians, despite their combined strength and intelligence, were hopelessly outmatched by nothing more than the fact that Lucy knew more than they did.

Iskandar scowled at the incoming magical attacks, and he bemoaned at the sudden lack of discipline. Chaos fell over the assembled army, kids and adults alike scrambling out of the way of the elemental pillars, trampling, shoving, and screaming. Some tried to cast spells, but with their concentration as shoddy as it was amidst the Chaos, results ranged from nothing happening to self-immolation.

Iskandar hauled an overtime, and, using a spell that was so forbidden it wasn't even on record, he dispersed all five super elemental pillars, and almost died from the extreme toll it took on his own magical reserves. He collapsed, wheezing, and looked up to see the monster with her hand extended.

In the red light and fluctuating smoke and haze, Iskandar saw something layered over Lucy's image that made his blood freeze.

The witch cast her own spell. _"Brisingr."_

Fire engulfed the world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Julius Kane groaned as he stirred awake. There was a piece of rubble on top of him, heavy enough to make him unable to move. He wasn't sure what happened, only a bright light, a roar of sound, heat, the Chief Lector throwing a spell at him, and then nothing.

The air smelled like burning meat, and Julius couldn't sense any magic around him. It was quiet, eerily quiet, save for the dull fluctuation of fire.

"My, aren't you the lucky one. Having the plot on your side has its advantages, I suppose."

Julius managed to summon the strength to look at the speaker, and he was so drained of everything that he didn't even have the energy to feel anything at the sight of Lucy.

"H-How?" he croaked. "S-So powerful…h-how?"

"Lots and lots of sex." Julius stared at her. "Perhaps I should elaborate. You see, gods don't have DNA, so when they squirt, it isn't semen, it's their very essence. Their power. Useful stuff when you know how to squeeze it out of you and synthesize it in a ritual to add it to your own power. I've spent literal thousands of years spreading my legs for various gods and licking goddess pussy, collecting the ejaculate. I've slept with Odin, Zeus, Thor, Poseidon, Loki, Hades, Sif, Frey, Freya, Triton, Amphitrite, Hel, Artemis, Ares, Balder, Frigg, Thoth himself, and so many more. I've slept with some of them multiple times, in different guises. So, just with my little ritual, and all that godly spunk, I've managed to more or less cheat my way to the top.

"Of course, I've done other things. Found some artefacts, sacrificed some guts, performed some rituals, made some deals, lots of depraved things. I've met the Devil himself, I've seen Loki's prison, and I even know Apophis. Although, how I truly came to be what I am didn't come from just some dick or a pussy or a contract. No, my power came from my most depraved act: the seduction of, and sleeping with, my own mother, on the graves of my mortal family."

If he could've, Julius would've wretched all over the ground.

Lucy sat down next to the archeologist.

"See, Jules, the thing about magic is…you can go as far as you're willing to go, and I was willing to go all the way. I didn't have tragic past, or a hard one. I was deeply loved by my father and siblings and lived on a thriving grape farm. But I was always different than them, and I knew it. They didn't of course, because I'm good at keeping secrets, and I'm also curious. Which is why when Daddy said not to go into the locked room, I did so and I found curious little book, with some curious little incantations, and I discovered something about myself…I discovered I was power mad."

Lucy's eyes were glowing and gleaming as she reminisced among the flames and burning bodies.

"So I followed the instructions, timed all the events, arranged the details, and found the right ground. Killed them all one night, buried them all on another, and invoked Hecate's presence at the end. A little sob story, some hand placement, and no small amount of aphrodisiac candles, all enhanced with what magic I could perform at ten years of age, then boom. I've got my little fingers inside where I came out of, working my own mother till she was squirting all over my fingers." Lucy laughed. "She was so embarrassed that she fled and didn't talk to me for centuries. I got what I wanted, though, and from there was it a wild ride of sex and power."

"W-Why a-are you telling me th-this?"

Lucy looked at him. "Dear baby boy~," she cooed, "whatever made you thought I was talking to you in the first place?" Her grin was evil. "Don't worry about your children, child. I won't harm them, though I imagine their coming fate would be cause enough for you to want to give dear Carter and Sadie over to me. Goodbye, Julian. Say hello to your wife for me."

A fifty-mile radius went up in light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shin'en nodded. "Being handled."

"What do you mean 'being handled'?" Athena fumed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Leviathan wasted no such time on preamble or theatrics. He waltzed right into Hotel Valhalla's cafeteria, right in the middle of lunch, when everyone was present, spread his arms, and let his voice boom.

"YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

People stopped eating, turning their heads to look at him with confused or dubious expressions. The Hotel management and the thanes and the Valkyries muttered amongst themselves, trying to figure out who the speaker was and who brought him to the Hotel, because he most definitely was not an einherjar.

This was post- _Leviathan_ Leviathan. He was not in the guise of a child, with his white cloak, nor was he in the guise in of a young teen wearing Renaissance-inspired clothing. He looked like a king, or an emperor, or even a _god_. Bottom line, this man was not of the average human cloth.

He wore no helmet or headgear of any kind, allowing his white and black hair to flow, and green and silver eyes to shine clearly. Across his torso was an armored piece like an Egyptian might wear, gold and detailed and riddled with jewels. A black cape was draped over his shoulders and fell to his feet, and was held in place on the breastplate by a couple of large pins. His arms and the rest of his upper body were bare. His feet were covered by leather sandals, his shins by golden plates, and around his waist was a black kilt with gold embroidery.

None of this outfit was Perseus' idea; it had all been crafted and woven by some grateful mortals revering him as their god. Not entirely wrong, but that was neither here nor there.

"Hey, stupid! Sit down and eat something."

Perseus tilted his head and lowered his arms. When he did that, his cape fell around him to cover his arms. "Okay, let's try this then…"

He walked over to a table, "Hey, can I borrow that plate? Thanks."

He grabbed the disc, ignoring the protests of the one using it. By now, everyone had returned to their cliques and were chatting it up, but that all halted yet again when there was a sonic boom that made the entire hotel shudder. Everyone gaped at the trench of destruction that all the way out through the wall and beyond. At the trench's start was the caped individual who was looking at them all with a wide smile…

"Well? Let's get on with it!"

Alarms blared and warriors scrambled for weapons. The Leviathan's eyes glowed gold, and, with a discharge of Yoki so great that it released a concussive blast the destroyed the whole of the cafeteria, he vanished in a burst of speed. A second later, every organic lifeform in the Feast Hall became bloody smears against the walls. Thanes and Valkyries were not spared from Perseus' highspeed attack.

"Ah, you four must be the main characters."

Indeed, somehow, Mallory, Halfborn, T.J., and X had been the sole survivors. They were all shaking, aside from X.

"Well? Let's see if you have plot armor on your side."

The Civil War gunmen hefted his rifle, fired a shot, and fainted when the bullet ricocheted off Perseus' eyeball. Mallory threw her knives, and Halfborn his axes, and all shattered to pieces against his chest. Perseus bobbed his head from side to side, a not-frown on his face.

"I'll take that as a no."

He sped past them and turned them into grease spots, all except for X.

"And how 'bout you, big guy? Anything in the tank?"

His answer was a surprisingly fast uppercut that sent him all the way through every floor, all 540 of them, which Perseus honestly found impressive, considering every other foe he had faced in this pitiful world of pitiful monsters and even more pitiful gods.

With naught but a force of will, Perseus came to a stop midair, surveyed the nice scenery of where the Norse gods lived, and looked down through the several hundred holes. Didn't see anything.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat in front of the Leviathan, and he looked up to see X. Then it struck the Killer of Gaea.

"Ohhhhhh! You're Odin~! Nice, maybe you'll be more of a challenge than…Primordial deities." Perseus frowned. "Well, when it comes to that comparison, you don't seem to measure up."

X's form shimmered and changed to a more traditional version of the All-Father. Winged helmet, battle armor, scraggly beard and hair, eyepatch, powerful build, and spear. For all the power he exuded, Perseus still was not impressed. When one fought against Greek Primordials, all of them superpowered to boot, not even the All-Father, for all his reputation and power…was not much.

"ASGARDIANS!" Odin thundered. "TO ME!"

And boy did they come.

Thor, Frigg, Sif, Idunn, Balder, Heimdall, Tyr, Honir, Bragi, Ullr, Nanna, Modi, Magni, Frey, Freya, Njord, even Aegir, Ran, and Hel. Twenty of Norse's best gods and goddesses, that Odin had sway over, anyway. All of their power was on full blast, and all of their weapons and armor had been brought.

"Ooh, not bad, not bad," Perseus said, cape fluttering around him. "But let's not destroy the beautiful scenery here." His mismatched eyes glowed their respective colors, and then just like that, the Leviathan and the contingent of Norse deities were on the Yggdrasil itself.

Perseus looked around, noted the thousands and thousands of branches of varying length and width, the canopy, the nine biggest branches which no doubt were the physical representations of the Nine Worlds, and the white misty void that surrounded the whole of the tree.

"Alright, this looks much more destructible." The Leviathan grinned, his Yoki aura swirling around him as his body started to change. "Let's get things straight…" skin blackening, muscles bulging, clothes tearing, winds getting higher, power becoming palpable. "I'm here _to_ _chew gum…_ _ **and commit deicide."**_

In a final explosion of Yoki that had the gods flying backward and branches bowing, the Leviathan Awakened in all his terrible glory.

 **[Play whatever song you think will fit with this, and then let me know what you picked. I'm curious]**

" **And I'm all out of gum,"** his whispery, echoey voice rolled over the World Tree.

The twenty Asgardians had varied reactions, and reaction times, which was disastrous because the Leviathan did not allow time for recovery. He preferred to capitalize on minute mistakes, and he did so in this scenario by sending no less than five gods of the Aesir into Ginnungagap, into Oblivion, with nothing more than punches.

Odin roared in anger and fired a beam of divine energy from Gungnir. The Leviathan smirked and vanished in a burst of speed, and the beam ended incinerating Freya, Frey's sister. Frey was justifiably pissed, Odin was shocked, and the God of Summer charged blindly, godly power haloing around him. He took a fist to the jaw that sent him smashing through hundreds of Yggdrasil's branched before slamming into one massive one, one that represented any of the Nine Worlds besides Midgard.

The Summer God groaned in his wooden crater, but otherwise did nothing.

Thirteen gods remained out of the twenty, and it took less than five seconds.

Tyr and Balder tried their luck and were tossed through branches and into the void. Idunn and Ran and Odin and Hel fired blasts of godly energy, and the Leviathan leaned to the side, and a second volley was launched by Aegir, Njord, Sif, Ullr, Honir, and Bragi, which the Leviathan tanked with a scoff.

And then Thor hurled his hammer.

The gods' jaws collectively dropped when the black-armored behemoth _caught it_ , stopped it **dead**.

The First Number One chuckled. **"So this is Mjolnir, the Hammer of Thor, a weapon so heavy that three giants struggle to lift it, and Thor himself cannot handle its weight without magical gloves. Yet here I am, holding it in my hand like it's no more than a baseball."**

Standing at two meters and proportionally sized for a human being that tall, Mjolnir was not that big in the Leviathan's palm.

" **You think you're scared now? Watch this."**

He brought his hand back, and then slung it sidearm, launching the hammer at a speed no less than Mach 10. Mjolnir went right through Thor's head and into the void. The Thunder God stood there, blood spurting from where his head used to be, and then he collapsed, smacking branches as he descended limply.

"THOR~!" Odin and Sif screamed.

Tyr teleported and attempted a haymaker. It connected, and his arm exploded at the elbow. The Leviathan ripped him in half like he was made of wet paper, and that did it for every deity that wasn't Sif and Odin. They vanished into wisps and scattered to whatever world came to mind first.

Sif attacked first, furious at her husband's demise, but the Leviathan's strength was so grand that not even the wrath of a woman could compare. Her fists were caught, and no matter how much power she put into it, she couldn't make herself budge.

" **You're outclassed. Join your husband in Oblivion."**

The Purple Butcher ripped off Sif's arms, and drop-kicked her in the chest. Never mind that the entire area was turned into jelly, the golden-haired goddess was sent thundering into the white mists of Ginnungagap, leaving only Odin. The Leviathan turned his pure sea-green eyes to the shell-shocked All-Father.

" **And then there was one. Come then, Oath Breaker, I'll allow one last attack, one final blow to be brought against me. Put all of your everything into it, old man, for you won't get another shot at ending me. I'm bored with you now. Make the end memorable."**

"The end memorable," Odin mumbled…and this his eye alit with searing light, his body glowing with eldritch power, more power than Kronos, more power than Priscilla, more than Zeus, and even more power than Isley.

Just barely on that last one.

Which meant that it wasn't much.

"I WILL CRUSH YOU!" Odin, channeling all the magic of the Aesir that he could, rocketed forward at the Leviathan with all the speed necessary to blow a fine little hole through the planet. He moved with such a speed that it would've caused tremendous damage to the Abyssal Lord, had he not had a simple little ace in the hole.

See, he had devoured Clytius, the anti-Hecate, the anti-magic giant. He had gained chronokinetic powers from the essence of Kronos, hydrokinetic powers from Poseidon, geokinetic powers from Gaea, and mystiokinetic powers from Clytius.

And just as the Leviathan enjoyed tremendous boosts in power when he merged his Yoki and his divine powers, so too did he enjoy benefits in ability. Merging his Yoki and Clytius' power, the Leviathan became something of an anti-magical god.

With but a thought, he cancelled Odin's connection to the Aesir magic, completely overriding the system with nothing but sheer force of will, and moved to the side to allow the All-Father to smack into the side of the World Tree. The bark crumpled and shattered around him, creating a sizable crater in Yggdrasil's side.

With a grunt, Odin pulled himself out, dazed.

" **Goodbye, Borson."**

The Chief of the Aesir whipped around to see a massive fist wrapped in purple energy. The mighty blow sent Odin straight through the World Tree, all the way out the other side of the trunk, and he had such speed that he cleared the branches and sailed right into Ginnungagap, right into Nothing, just like the rest of his kinsmen.

 **[End whatever song you were playing]**

The Leviathan enjoyed a few moments of rest, despite not working up much of a sweat. Puh, _gods_...the gods of this world weren't _gods_ , they were insects, pathetic and weak, with their only power being to be idiotic, comical, and a waste of energies.

Merging with his mystiokinetic power didn't make him look any different, other than that the chinks in his armor, and his eyes, and the tips of his spikes and horns were all glowing with purple energy. Mystio-Leviathan, as this form was called, just as there was Chrono-Leviathan, Hydro-Leviathan, Geo-Leviathan, and any combination therein. He had yet to try merging all of his power together, but he knew for a fact that if he did, a galaxy wouldn't survive the amount of power such a form would release.

Anyway, he had a secondary purpose for being here, other than to waste the einherjar and the Aesir and the Vanir.

He had some trimming to do.

" **It's a shame really,"** the Lord of the Abyss said. **"Shin'en wants me to sever the branches so Asteria's Hive doesn't spread too much, but I want to see just what a Hive of fire demons, giants, elves and dwarves would like...oh well. If this Multiverse thing is real, then there's a dimension in which I didn't do this. Maybe I'll seek it out one day."**

With that, the Leviathan set about smashing through the eight branches of Asgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Alfheim, Helheim, Nidvalier, Vanaheim, and Muspelheim. With the main branches severed, he threw all of them into the Void, committing literal genocide as he killed the giants, the dwarves, the elves, the fire giants, the dead, the rest of the Vanir, and the rest of the Aesir. Only Midgard remained where it was, and that was only because Midgard was to be Asteria's world.

With a grin, his job done, the Lord of the Abyss vanished to watch the show.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's being handled," Shin'en waved off, completely infuriating Athena.

Before things could come to violence, Artemis broke in. "You said that it's "over." What do you mean by that? _What_ is over?"

Shin'en's eyes glowed crimson.

"Everything. Everything is over. Every problem mankind faces...is over. Overpopulation? Solved. Pollution? Easily fixed. Global warming? Done deal. Poverty? A nonfactor. Disease? Fixed. Corruption of government officials, law enforcement, and school teachers? Erased. The social and political divisions that have caused a schism in society that'll never be fixed? Nonexistent.

"And not just those, but the little problems as well. The high school kids with drugs in their bags, the college kids stressing about midterms, the soldiers in the desert worrying about stepping on a bomb, everyone worried about being screwed over by someone else, the little guy being bullied, the drug cartels trying to move their product, the illegal families trying to cross the border, the deranged parents with their children chained in their basement, the perverted freaks with girls tied up, the women in shipping crates, the school shooter...meaningless. The feminists, transgenders, gays, lesbians, fetishists, Marxists, Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, Neo Nazis, Conservatives, blacks, whites, all trying and failing to get along and find harmony…"

His Mangekyou had spun to life, and the breathes of everyone steamed against the air, and the light dimmed, and frost crept along the floor. People shivered and huddled together for warmth.

" _It's. Over_. Not to sound poetic or metaphorical, but Asteria is going to be the cleansing tide across this world. She's going to solve every problem this world faces, big and small, trivial and major. She's going to bring about what humanity craves: equality and peace, and she's going to do it through genocide." Shin'en put a finger to his temple, smirking.

"Humanity can't worry about equality between the sexes and races if there's no humanity left."

"Th-Th-That's b-b-b-bar-bar-bar-barbaric-ic-ic," someone chattered.

"That's the hard truth," Shin'en said with steel. "Equality is a lie, and peace is impossible, because understanding between the whole entirety of humanity will never happen. Sure, nations and officials may shake hands and sign papers; sure, law enforcement and the courts will do what they can to ensure order, but all futile. There will always be at least one person that doesn't buy into the system, and that one person will do everything they can to get others to do the same. Therefore, to ensure world peace from the gutters to the castles and the back alleys to the skyscrapers, you either have to rob humanity of their ability to think differently, or you have to wipe them out."

His eyes travelled to the gods. "You've all been alive for thousands of years, so tell me: with all your experience with mankind, do you think there'll ever be a time or an event that can unify the species and bring about everlasting peace?"

Not one of the twelve Olympians, and not one of the centuries and millennia old Hunters could say yes without lying.

Shin'en hummed. "I though not." He dialed back the cold, allowing heat and light to return to the throne room.

"You said...you said you're her brother," Athena said. "Even with everything you've said, and all the points you've made, you, as a brother, _can't_ simply allow your sister to kill _everyone_. The effect it'll have on her conscience, her psyche-"

She was cut off by a single laughing bark. "Her conscience and her psyche? Athena," he scolded, "you're the goddess of wisdom. You know damn well that none of what's about to happen is going to have even the most remote traumatizing or psychological effect on Asteria. As for your previous argument in regards to our sibling bond and me not allowing her to kill everyone...what makes you think I _don't want_ Asteria to go on a rampage?"

Unease, more unease than what there was, rippled through the crowd. Poseidon's grip on his trident tightened. "Son," he said hesitantly, "what do you mean?"

Years previous, everything that Shin'en said wouldn't have had any heat or backing to it. He wouldn't have cared about the goings-on of pathetic insects, but after _Death Note_ , after he had rewired his mindset to something more appropriate for Light Yagami...he had fucked his head over, forever changing his thought process and worldview.

"What I mean, Poseidon, is that I really don't like people. I don't like their hypocrisy, I don't like how they try to fuck everyone over for a just a few dollars more, and I don't like how they can't get along. Now, that's how humans always were, and that's how they're always going to be, and there's nothing that can be done about it...oh wait."

Silence fell over them, before Drew Tanaka broke it.

"And what about us? What are we supposed to do? Stand by and let Asteria PMS across the globe?"

"Yes."

"Bullshit. I'm not letting that happen. I'm not letting so many innocent people die because my little sister's bleeding a little."

"Innocent people...we'll argue ethics never, but like I said at the beginning: I'm not letting any of you leave this room. No one's getting in Asteria's way."

"Try and stop us," Drew scoffed. "We've got twelve Olympian gods, a battalion of immortal lesbians, and a small army of demigods. You're outnumbered and outmatched."

"Correct on the first, wrong on the last. Little girl, I can split this mountain in half with nearly minimal effort."

"I call bullshit. Not even a Primordial could do that."

" _I beg to differ."_

The speaker's voice rolled over the crowd, whispered yet thunderous. Shadows rippled and twisted, and the door next to where Shin'en was leaning darkened impossibly. From out of this darkness, a tall, thin man emerged, wearing black clothes that weren't of any discernable make or material. His hair was stringy and wavy, his skin deathly pale, and his eyes narrow and slanted.

"Erebus," Shin'en said. "Why are you here?"

"I sensed you and the others wreaking havoc, but I took exception to the child's insult." The Dark God turned his full attention to Drew. "I can turn this floating rock into atoms with barely more than a thought."

The daughter of Aphrodite paled and fell to her knees, unable to bare the weight of Erebus' eyes. The gods weren't doing much better, and everyone besides Shin'en was struggling to not kiss the floor.

"Here for anything else, or was intimidation your sole motive for appearing?"

"I wanted to watch you lay down the law. The floor is yours, Dragon Ghost of the Abyss."

Shin'en gave the Dark God a lingering sideways glance, but he stepped forward and took center stage.

"Listen up! The Apocalypse is upon you, and you've got two options. The first is to attempt to stop Asteria, to which I will kill all of you now—my personal option, as it spares all of you the trauma and nightmares. The second is to barricade Olympus, make it an impregnable fortress once again, and live the rest of your lives here. Your mortal families will die, but you will live surrounded by your siblings. Asteria may come here one day, and she may very well kill all of you."

Shin'en paused for the allowance of situation-soaking, then wrapped it all up.

"Which will it be? Attempt to leave, in which all of you will die, or choose to live here, in which case most of you may die. I'll give you time to decide."

' _Although, killing all of you would defeat the purpose of why Asteria wanted you here, but it would prevent her from living with the memory of killing her friends and family. While incapable of regret, guilt, and remorse, she can still feel sadness. So, what are you going to do, Olympians?'_

Meanwhile, Erebus was standing off to the side, fulfilling his role of silent observer. He was also curious as to what the gods would do, not that he would anything either way.

"Lord Erebus?" Zeus called.

"Hm?"

"Will you fight on anyone's side if a battle were to break out?"

"No."

"Alright then…" Shin'en's hand was on his sword, a feeling of resignation engulfing him.

' _Sorry, Asteria.'_

Zeus brandished his bolt. "For Asteria and the world, ATTACK!"

The world flashed a brilliant white that was followed by a lattice of intricate red and gold lines. The white faded, but the lines did not. As one, god and demigod collapsed from their thrones and/or to the ground.

Erebus observed the field of corpses with a neutral look. "So this is what the power of the plot looks like."

Shin'en sheathed his sword. "It sucks."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria was lounging on the same bolder she had found Shin'en on, blissfully unaware of what had been transpiring, and yet she could still feel something dreadful.

Then she seized up, and fell across the bolder. Night had fallen, and the clouds began to part, revealing a moon as red as blood.

Mouth agape in pain as foreign sensations racked her body, originating from her ovaries, Asteria turned her head to look at the satellite, and her eyes slowly opened. Her sclera crept over her iris until her entire eye was black, and that's when her period officially started.

 **[Renholder: Coward]**

Asteria's backed bowed upward as a jet of acid erupted from her mouth, her sacs squeezing as much out of them as they could in a single go, before retracting and doing it again. As her body emptied itself of every drop of acid that it could, her ribs cracked and expanded, bulging against her torso, bulging it outward.

Her heart hammered inside as everything changed.

Asteria arched even more, releasing another jet of acid, but it came with more. Like the jaws of an eel or a shark, her own jaws popped out of her mouth, her tongue stretching more than a foot out of her mouth. However, the real changes were happening lower.

Inside of her uterus, it wasn't just a single egg cell that came from her fallopian tubes, or even a couple or a few as per some rare cases, but _dozens_. Dozens of developed cells ready for use. Instead of clinging to the uterine wall, however, they poured into the heart of Asteria's uterus, gathering in a ball of reproductive material. From the inner lining, tendrils of protein strands extended towards the ball, forming a protective wrapping...and then the tendrils ripped away the lining to bring about one more layer of protection.

For what this thing was about to do, protection was needed.

From the ball of genetic material, more tendrils extended, and it began to shoot its way upward to the very top of the uterus...and then it began to burrow through.

A violent little thing, it wrestled its way through Asteria's body, tearing through layer upon layer of tissue, before settling in her chest cavity, nestling itself right where the food was going to come.

Back outside, a small trail of acid leaked from her vagina, the only indication that something had happened in there.

And it wasn't just her body that was undergoing destruction...as her hormones changed, her emotions changed, and as her emotions changed, so too did her grasp on her powers. The ground rumbled and rose like it was bubbling. Storm clouds swirled and poured rain and lightning in equal measure.

Asteria screeched once and settled. Her eyes snapped open, pure black, and she sprang from the melted and steaming bolder. Her chest was irregularly shaped, and she was racked with a terrible hunger, as she always was when her acid sacs were running on empty. She was only ever hungry because her body only ever produced the chemicals necessary to stimulate hunger when she needed more acid, but anyway.

Asteria only had two things on her mind: propagation and annihilation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **And thus concludes the exposition. Lucy's backstory is revealed, the Leviathan shredded Yggdrasil and the Norse deities, and Shin'en's killed everyone of minor importance, but I mean, could any of you see the Olympians and half-bloods just sitting there as Asteria killed everyone, or being content to just wait for Asteria to come up to Olympus and harvest them all?**_

 _ **I couldn't, so I ended them. Simple as that. I also didn't want to put Asteria in the position of killing her friends and family, but I do want you to know that she would've done so in a heartbeat.**_

 _ **I couldn't think of a good enough song for Leviathan's fight, so I left it to you to decide for yourself. Let me know what you picked, I'm curious. The final scene was Inspired directly by Michael's almost-transformation in the cop car in**_ **Underworld** _ **. You can find it on YouTube.**_

 _ **Next chapter is what Asteria on her super period is like, so you all get ready. I'm thinking that chapter, and maybe two more before completion. And did anyone catch the Biblical Apocalypse vibe in this chapter?**_

 _ **With that said, Fav, Follow, and Review!**_

 _ **P.S. No, Annabeth, Ariel, and Amelia were not killed, nor have I forgotten about Cain.**_

 _ **P.P. S. Points to whomever can tell me what Lucy referenced with Great Goat and Brisingr.**_


	43. Annihilation and Propagation

_Annihilation and Propagation_

 _ **I see many have read/seen**_ **Eragon** _ **, so congratulations. You are very cultured. For those curious, I read all the books and was very disappointed with the overall ending. On the flipside, I see not many of you are acquainted with**_ **Berserk** _ **, which is where Great Goat is from.**_

 _ **Google it.**_

 _ **I also see many people enjoy**_ **Disturbed** _ **and**_ **Avenged Sevenfold** _ **for their battle music. Understandable and agreed.**_

 _ **Moving on, this chapter is entirely dedicated to Asteria...finally. With little tidbits from Shin'en, Lucy, and Perseus.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO, AVP, Naruto, or Claymore

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And so it begins," Shin'en intoned. Lucy stood next to him, a young girl again, and the Leviathan on his other side, dressed as he was before his Awakening just minutes prior.

"Indeed," said the witch. "This is going to be fun."

Shin'en gave her a sideways glance. "Keep your hands out of your pants, and away from your crotch in general."

"Like I need to physically touch myself."

Shin'en fully turned around to face her. "Please, refrain from masturbating to Asteria killing people."

Lucy grinned. "No promises."

With a low growl, the Abyss turned back around.

"You two are the best entertainment I've had in a long time."

"Do not get me started, Leviathan."

The trio were standing on the edge of Olympus, looking down at the earth, though their view was more like an IMAX of what Asteria was doing.

Shin'en looked up from the 'screen.' "We're all watching a girl have her period."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Instincts.

Hunger.

Spread.

Feed.

Propagate.

Annihilate.

If couldn't be used, then it would be destroyed.

As she thundered through the forest, tracking the most bountiful prey in her range, those were the only things running through her head. Nothing else mattered. Not the gods, not her father, not Kronos, not the prophecy, not even her daughters mattered right now. Only feeding. Only food. Only the proper sustenance and nutrition for the young inside her, waiting patiently as ever to start the Hive.

Asteria ran right into the midst of a mother grizzly bear with her trio of cubs, and barreled straight into the mother, and hurled all 900 pounds into a tree with enough force to completely shatter the skeletal system. The cubs didn't even have time to perform a song composed by panicked screeching before a swipe of the tail cut them down to size in a spill of blood.

The rampant hybrid dove straight into the dying grizzly, viciously ripping her apart and devouring everything she could sink her teeth into. Fur, fat, muscles, organs, bones, tissues, all of it. Tearing off massive strips of meat and swallowing them whole. Her throat bulged as it forced down the massive amounts of food.

Inside her, the acid that was left inside her sacs did its job in melting down the material, but in the midst of menstruation, with different chemicals present telling the body to do different things. Instead of simply destroying the material and turning it into acid, only the byproducts were used for acid. The rest, the proteins and carbohydrates and lipids, were all gathered around the ball of genetic material, engulfing it and protecting it, becoming a vehicle. But it wasn't enough.

Asteria needed to eat more. _Kill_ more.

After the bear had been used to its full capacity, Asteria devoured the cubs, even after eating several times her own body weight. The reason her ribcage was bulging so far from her body was to accommodate for the coming material.

Claws and teeth soaked in blood, Asteria hissed lowly, and bolted off for more sustenance. Everything organic she came across, she ate. A full herd of deer. Raccoons. Skunks. Squirrels. Birds. Any and everything. She tore a bloody path across the eastern forests of the United States, covering hundreds of miles. Time passed, of course. Thirty minutes, an hour, two hours, three.

She covered so much ground that she eventually entered territories that went untouched by her weather and ground event hours previous. And she sensed something highly appropriate. She was full now, her young safely encased in their vehicle. It was now time to let it loose, and there was a bountiful crop just eighteen miles away.

Asteria took off immediately.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cub Scout Troop 417 was camping in the woods for their survival merit badge. Their parents were all at home, and the twenty little boys were being supervised by five adults. The far-off storm had scared the children, and they were all too scared to go to sleep. So the Troop leader decided to calm everyone down with a song.

Gathered around the fire, the leader nodded to his assistant, and he hit the play button on the cassette player at the same time the leader began strumming his guitar. Instantly, the boys visibly relaxed at the first soothing notes.

"Almost heaven," the leader sang, "West Virginia~, blue ridge mountains, Shenandoah River~..."

Clapping and snapping started, and the boys began to sing along, creating a mismatched ear-rape of off-key voices, tones, pitches, and volumes.

 _Life is old there, older than the trees~_

 _Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze~_

Something came barreling out of the woods, knocking over the cassette player, and tearing out the jugular of the assistant. Chaos ensued, but the cassette continued to play.

 _Country roads~, take me home~_

 _To the place~, I belong~_

 _West Virginia, Mountain momma~_

 _Take me home~, country roads~_

Screaming and panicked running in all directions, only for bodies to be grabbed and thrown in every direction, smashing into trees, into the fire, into tents, into brush, everywhere. The few that managed to escape the attack fled in all direction into the forest, and they were picked off in disturbing fashion, taken out by a blur to their side. All the while, the cassette played its song.

 _Yesterday~, YESTERDAY~!_

 _Country roads~, take me home~_

 _To the place I belong~..._

A body came sailing down from above, and crushed the cassette.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside of her, the eggs divided themselves, grouping into smaller clusters. Following this, their organic vehicle also split into sections, drawing the eggs into their centers.

Asteria needed live material, and so she didn't kill of them. Three of the adults were alive, unconscious, and ten of the boys were the same way. The bigger ones, the ones who had the genes from their tall parents, or their fat parents. In addition to needing live material, she also needed nutritious material, and her chosen live ones were about as nutritious as this crop was going to yield.

Asteria straddled the biggest adult, pinning him down. Yes, he was knocked out, but if he woke up, then he still wasn't going anywhere. She felt it move in her chest cavity, a slimy little bit of transport, her own internal Eggcarrier and ovipositor. It slid up her throat, making it bulge, and her mouth opened as wide as it could go, several times that of a human being.

From out of her mouth, small, wriggling, black tentacles slowly protruded, and then the Facehugger freed itself from the confines of Asteria's throat. Midair, its cells underwent hyper mitosis, expanding and growing to where it covered the adult's whole face. The tentacles latched on to the sides of the head, the proboscis went down the throat, and the eggs were injected into the chest cavity.

Technically speaking, Mpreg.

Asteria took a moment to observe the deliverer of her young. It was pure black, leathery, almost seemed to shine in the light, and was less like a spider, and more like an octopus.

With a satisfied hiss, the Queen moved to the next, and the next after that.

When all of her eggs had been deposited, she wasn't done, she wasn't anywhere near done. The rest of the human bodies were there for a reason, and there were more eggs to be used. After another fit of hissing and acid spraying and undergoing the painful process of feeling her eggs burrow through her insides, Asteria devoured the human corpses, once again stripping everything down to the bones, and then the bones themselves.

When she was done, she didn't wait for the first of her Hive to be born. They would birth themselves, and they would either last long enough to find her, or they would be killed. Either from predators, or nature.

Asteria wasn't full, of course, she still needed more food, but between here and her next destination, there were plenty of animals. Now, her next destination?

The nearby town of Gunnison, Colorado.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Asteria, now full once again, went straight for the power station. The workers were made short work of, and the power was soon to follow. A swipe of her tail, and the whole town went dark. Her next stop was the police station. The few officers on duty at this late hour didn't fare any better than the workers at the power plant, and none of them even knew that their fellows were going down.

Asteria was a quiet creature by nature, and her nature was running at full force.

With the main force out, opposition was minimal, and the whole of the town was nothing but breeding stock.

The only problem now was figuring out where to start.

Might as well start with the next building over, and work her way up and down the streets.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The gestation period was not long, not even a full ten minutes. The embryos didn't need much. Just enough nutrients from their surrounding host to form a body big enough and strong enough to escape the confines. Even when sharing with about two or three other siblings, there was enough meat to go around.

The boy jolted awake. His insides hurt, terribly so, and he could barely breath. He was the largest of his Troop, declared medically obese for his age. He managed to turn his head, and he saw his fellows, their upper bodies ripped apart, seemingly from the inside, but there wasn't any...mess. Not much of one anyway, almost like their insides had been scooped up and taken away-

"AAGH!"

Something pressed sharply against his side, from _within_. And then there were so many attacks that the overweight boy screamed and writhed and coughed blood. And then his suffering ended were a sickening rip and squish, and a spray and a spurt.

One burst out, then a second, and a third, and fourth, and a _fifth_. Five of Asteria's young from but one host. It helps when said host has a lot inside to feed on. Now, the young themselves were not like their distant cousins, or perhaps even their grandparents, depending on how you wish to see Asteria's family tree in regards to her Xenobiology; they were not yellow and snake-like, instead they were small, already humanoid, and black. Pure black. And completely smooth. They lacked the ridges and lines and biomechanical look of their ancestors.

They were a new breed, a new sect of the species.

As the newborns found their limbs and discovered how to walk, shaking off the blood that covered them, there was a louder hiss, deeper and meaner. Older siblings, ones that had hatched matured fully not even three minutes ago. In their adult states, more details were visible. They were still completely smooth, all black, still in the shape of their grandparents, with the digitigrade hind legs, the elongated skull, the dorsal tubes...but there were differences.

The first was that on their hands, they had five fingers and an opposable thumb, each ending with a sharp claw, that, like their mother, could be launched and secrete acid. The second was their skin. While black and smooth as stone, it was not insectoid and exoskeletal, but leathery. Tough. The third was their tail. It was not like a sword, like their mother, but like a spear. Long, sharp, slender, deadly. And everything their mother had, they had.

Acid sacs, spray ability, telepathy, electrosensitivity, geosensitivity, tail elongation, hyperintelligence, regeneration, and more. So much more, because, as they were birthed from the genetic material of a human host, they first came from Asteria.

They came from a demigoddess.

These new Xenomorphs were legacies.

The newborns suddenly seized and writhed, their bodies growing, popping, and cracking. In seconds, they were as big as their older siblings. Just like that. One hissed, still looking at the fat boy. Along the trees, in the bushes, hanging from the branches, the first of the new Hive all looked at the corpses, expecting. Without preamble, the skull exploded, and the air rang clear with a triumphant, high pitched shriek.

The sixth of a single host had been born.

Number Six.

The Hive waited for the youngest to grow and mature, and once she was done, all one hundred and two Aliens set off for their mother, making almost zero sound as they sprinted through the brush.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, that's a lot for a single brood," Lucy said.

Shin'en hummed and Perseus didn't make a sound, just continued to watch, but something struck him.

He jabbed a thumb at the throne room in the distance and directed his words at the witch. "You feel anything for the people that just died? You know, the ones you spent several hundred years with? Those people?"

Lucy looked at the throne room, her vision going telescopic and x-ray to observe the cooling corpses within. Sarah, Victoria, Jess, Bertha, Katie, Phoebe, Bethany, Amber, Catherine, Joanna, Jess, Naomi, Celyn, Atalanta, Esther, Octavia, Roberta, Thalia, and even Zoё and Artemis. All dead in a second.

"Nope, not a thing."

"Makes sense."

"What about you? They are, technically speaking, your family as well."

The Leviathan barked a short laugh. "Please, they are not but strangers to me."

"And you, Shin'en? You're the one that killed all of them."

The Abyss just observed his forearm. "I felt a small twinge of heat...that's about it."

"That was over a hundred and fifty people in there," Lucy mused. "We're all going to Hell."

"And we'd all fight our way out of there."

The witch smirked. "That we would."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Their purpose was simple: serve their Queen. Serve their mother.

And at this point in time, the only way to do that was to gather. It wasn't hard. Everyone was asleep in preparation for the coming tomorrow, and with all power cut, the entire place was dark. Breaking and entering was a nonfactor when you were in and out in seconds. A quick, controlled bludgeon to the head and the target, from large dogs to small children to teens and adults etc. No one was safe, and no one stood a chance.

When Asteria met her children, there was no heartwarming moment of recognition, no cuddling or cooing, only the Purpose. Her children brought her resources, and she used those resources. Dozens were harvested and gently laid about the floor (Asteria had taken over city hall), and dozens were brought to provide the needed nutrients and sustenance for when Asteria needed more to eat.

Within an _hour_ , all 6,000 residents had been put to use. Within an _hour_ , Asteria's Hive was several thousand strong. Within an hour, the whole of Gunnison was covered in a mass of black creatures. And the Queen wasn't done yet. It was still many hours to daylight, and many days until her cycle ended.

And she had an idea. Full once more for twelfth time that night, Asteria regurgitated her Facehuggers. The little things popped and expanded, getting bigger, developing little limbs upon which they could scurry, and they scurried onto the bodies of the adults.

' _Spread everywhere. Begin your own Hives.'_

And then the Xenomorphs with a package went off into the night in the directions of the cities they could sense. However, out of the 6,000 present, fewer than one hundred actually left, and so Asteria still had quite the army with her, and Gunnison was not the place to establish an actual Hive. Not for her, anyway.

Honestly, her ideal place was two thousand miles away, underneath a floating mountain, and moving an army that distance wasn't ideal, but leaving them here was just as anti-ideal. But, like she did with the others, she could do with them.

And she did.

Her period started the end of Monday, and it was the end of Wednesday when her propagation was halted. Not by a monster or a god or a Titan, or any kind of mythological entity, and it wasn't mortals either. No, Asteria was far too careful for that, controlling her Drones and Warriors and Praetorians and Queens with naught but her mind. Speaking of, with the Queens establishing their own Hives, Asteria was officially the Empress of a globally established Hive, second to none, and above all. Through her Hive mind, she was managing to stay under the mortal radar; the last thing she needed was nuclear response.

Bullets and tanks and missiles could be shrugged through, but nukes were something else entirely.

The Earth was infested and it didn't know about it. Yet.

Anyway, Asteria was on her way to the next city, having managed to deposit her entire previous army across the Western United States, when her mind went haywire with a clicking sound.

There was only one thing that could make that sound, and by the smell in the air, Asteria was dead correct. It was time. Time for these questions to be answered. Time for their roles to be decided. Time for this battle to be won.

A hazy transparent figure stepped in front of Asteria, and then it became visible. His tail flicked behind him, his dorsal tubes curved forward to face her, and his eyes were trained directly on her. Those eyes, pure black as pitch, just like her own. His mouth was closed, but the mandibles attached to the back of his jaw were splayed. He was taller than her by a solid foot, and was packing an easy hundred more pounds of solid mass. He was stronger than her, clearly, not just from being a male, but by size as well.

They were both leaking absurd amounts of hormones and pheromones. The air was saturated with their scents, and focusing on anything but each other was impossible. Amidst her primal desires and emotions, Asteria felt something warm trickling down her leg, and it wasn't blood, the scent was too sweet. As much as she wanted to go at it right now, as much as she could tell he desired the same, there was still burning question: who were they to each other?

Mother/son?

Sister/brother?

Queen/protector?

Mates?

Enemies?

It was time to answer this.

Asteria was ready.

Cain was ready.

There was a hiss, followed by a click, followed by a shriek, and ended with a roar.

The two genetically altered monsters leapt at each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"She's been doing a good job," Lucy commented. "Already sixty individual Hives, each of them growing at their own pace, and all of them were established only after all forms of communication and escape were sabotaged. Radio towers, cell towers, antennas, all knocked down, and all roads destroyed. Some by mysterious flooding, strange and sudden earthquakes, acid, or knocked down trees. Everything kept local and relatively quiet. Mortal militaries have no idea what's going on, though they have started to suspect foul play, since the search parties have been sent out, though they've found nothing other than deserted towns. The Queens are doing well with their telepathy...and they're learning how to use the Mist. Although, at the rate they're going, there won't be any need for the Mist."

"I am curious," Perseus said, "if she kills all human life, and kills all animal life, therefore cutting off the world's largest supplies of carbon dioxide, what will happen to the vegetation?"

"It'll die out," Shin'en answered crisply. "The green won't entirely go extinct, as there will still be carbon dioxide emissions from volcanoes and decaying objects, but it'll be greatly reduced, especially since the Xenomorphs don't breathe. Asteria knows this, of course, and she'll most likely trigger a volcano every now and then to keep the CO2 levels to her liking. She's part Xenomorph herself, so humidity is something she'll enjoy."

"Oh. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, silence. The end of the world is in its second stage."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **Sorry, no awesome fight today, only biology and Easter Eggs. Though, you should be grateful, for this could've been the last chapter. Instead, next chapter is the last. Asteria will fight Cain, their roles, which were established via vote, will be cemented, the girls will be transformed, the Ophiotaurus will be sacrificed, the world will end, and there's a surprise that may or may not bring tears to your eyes.**_

 _ **Anyway, a different breed of Xenos, the basis of which actually comes from the Alien design from**_ **Alien: Isolation** _ **, so picture that only completely black, and there were two Easter Eggs (that I have knowledge of putting in there), and they're from the game and the most recent movie. See if you can find them.**_

 _ **Gunnison is straight from**_ **Requiem** _ **, my lost homage to the crossover series.**_

 _ **In closing, this is the penultimate chapter. Take time to reflect and reminisce, bask in the memories, the good times, the bad times, and just remember how much fun this was.**_

 _ **Fav, Follow, and Review please!**_


	44. The Xenomorph Goddess

_The Xenomorph Goddess_

 _ **0Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Final Chapter.**_ **Xenomorphic** _ **is wrapped up with this one, and it's on to the others. It's been a fun ride, but it's not over yet.**_

 _ **On to the final stretch…**_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I don't own PJO or AVP

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The bottom of Asteria's feet slammed into Cain's chest, and the larger hybrid took two steps back before countering with his clubbed tail. Asteria ducked, a spike barely missing the top of her head. Her own tail whipped up, and, with precise targeting that from her superior eyes and reflexes, severed the club at the muscle. The club sailed into a tree, shattered through it, and imbedded in a rock. Acid jetted from Cain's severed tail, the Predator hybrid roaring, not in pain, but in exhilaration.

He bull-rushed, and Asteria leapt over him, flicking her tail again, but Cain used his own to parry, and the bladed tail stabbed into the ground. Asteria lighted, tried to retract her tail, but had it grabbed instead, and suddenly she was being slung through tree after tree, splintering the bark of organisms that had been alive for decades. Then she was firmly planted into the ground with enough force to rattle _her_ bones.

Her super-enhanced bones.

Then she was yanked forward by her tail on a collision course with Cain's wrist blades. When she got close enough, her arms snapped out, her hands going around Cain's wrist, and her feet planted on his pectorals. She intended to snap his arm off, but Cain reacted to her counter by hauling his arm up, supporting her entire weight, and then slung his limb. The force was too much for Asteria, and she was thrown away. Midair, she was struck by twin bolts of energy that smarted terribly and shot her back faster into a rock with enough momentum to crack the ball of minerals.

While hurting, the pain was ignored in favor of darting away into the woods. A frontal assault was not the answer to this battle, as Cain was too physically superior, but he was not mentally superior. As Asteria darted through the trees, changing her tactics, she felt Cain thundering after her, firing bolts of energy, lighting the forest on fire. She dodged each shot, and when Cain got close enough, his longer legs and more powerful muscles propelling him further and faster, she snapped out with her tail again.

Cain's reflexes were superb, and he caught the blade in his hand, but then winces and roared when there were ten sharp impacts across his front. Asteria's claws, embedded deep in his body. The tail was ripped from his hand, the blade biting through his skin and spreading his acidic blood across the forest floor.

Cain looked up and saw a fist that smashed his face in, sending him sailing through a tree. He didn't get a chance to run into something else before he was hit again, sailing in a new direction. And then he was hit again, and again, and again, being pinballed through the burning trees until there was a jarring impact to his lower jaw that sent him up, and then another jarring impact, this one much more powerful than the former, that put him four feet into the ground in an eruption of dirt.

He rolled out of his crater just in time, but he still caught several punches to the face and head, before a well-timed block created an opening that allowed him to rake his wrist blades across Asteria's sternum, to which he received five deep gashes across his chest, and he responded with an upward slash that took an eye out, and the reciprocation was twin sets of claws buried knuckle-deep in abdomen. Cain ended by stabbing Asteria.

Locked, she hissed, he clicked, and the flames burned around them. Then Asteria spewed acid in Cain's face, ripped out her claws, clapped her hands on his ears, and got kicked in the chest, slammed into a tree, ducked under a couple of plasma blasts, grabbed the toppling tree, and slapped Cain three hundred feet in the air with said tree. Asteria dropped her tree, extended her dorsal tubes with a snap, and willed the energy that made her wings into existence. Like a bullet from a gun, she was up and in Cain's descending face, grabbing him and slinging him up higher.

And now she had the advantage. Up here, Cain had no control; he was in freefall, tumbling over himself, unable to aim properly with his cannons, unable to get a good trajectory for his tail, the club having grown back. Unable to do anything but swipe and take hits as Asteria flew in from every angle there was on a three-dimensional plane. Her claws and tail raked across his body, tearing deep gashes, spilling pints of his blood. Still, for all her damage dealt, Cain recovered from all, his healing factor just as great as her own.

But he was wearing down. His bones could only generate so much blood so fast before needing more substance to melt down to make more acid, make more life fluid. And currently, in the air and falling fast, there was only one source of food.

The next time Asteria came in for an attack, Cain was ready, eyeing her. She was coming for his jugular this time, and all it took was a well-placed tilt of the head, and SNAP.

Asteria went flying past, missing her left arm up to the elbow. A low hiss, and the cells were already undergoing hyper mitosis. In less than two seconds, her entire arm was back, and Cain had just a little bit more blood in him. But he was almost to the ground, and Asteria wouldn't be fast enough to play hot potato again. She let him crash with a monstrous cloud of dust rising amidst the toppling of trees.

Recognizing what would have become a land-to-air fight, Asteria also went to the ground, right into the middle of the dust cloud. While vision was obscured, she could smell Cain, see the pheromones around him, feel the electricity in his body, and hear his heart beating furiously to get blood throughout his body. There was another thing that was debilitating Cain, and it had to do with his brain power.

Asteria knew that the spines on his head weren't just for show, they were generators for his cannons, generating excess bioelectricity that could be discharged at his leisure. Which he had been doing a lot during this fight, and his generators were starting to sputter, and even though they produced excess bioelectricity, they still produced energy that was used by his body.

In summary, Cain was running low on blood and energy. He was tired, fatigued, and running on empty. Asteria's wear-down tactic was working. And then the bigger hybrid went tearing through the forest in a direction that Asteria sensed a body of water in. She went sprinting after him on all fours to give herself the boost in speed.

When she was a child, she could reach speeds exceeding 300 miles per hour on all fours. Now, as a maturing adult, years later, years of gaining muscle later, she reached speeds exceeding 700 miles per hour. With a loud boom, Asteria went supersonic and overtook Cain, flattening him like a pancake, no doubt breaking some bones after running into him at Mach 1.

The problem with running that fast was slowing down, and Asteria usually accomplished slowing down with friction, and large objects. She promptly ran through a series of trees. Amid a pile of splinters, Asteria got up with stars dancing around her head. She shook rapidly from side to side, and approached Cain. He seemed to be knocked out. His brain activity was low, his heart was steady, and he wasn't moving.

She had won.

So why didn't she feel victorious?

Asteria poked Cain with her tail, and when he didn't stir, she stabbed him in the solar plexus. He shuddered, but didn't wake. She dug her blade in, twisting it, and got closer, ready to take his head. Claws splayed, crouching over him, she hissed.

And then his pure black eyes opened.

She tried to retreat and gain distance, but she had lodged her tail in too deep—it was stuck—and she was too slow and Cain too fast. His large hand clasped around her throat, and he popped up to his feet, and then he slammed her into a tree, over and over again until the tree's trunk cracked, splintered, and then toppled. Cain put the dazed and sore Asteria to the ground, her tail still embedded in his chest. He raised an arm, his wrist blades extending with a _fwip_.

Asteria shrieked and shoved her tail all the way through Cain's body and wrapped it around his arm. With another shriek, she snapped Cain's arm. The Predator hybrid roared in pain, both at the tail running him through, and at the angle in which his arm was bent and bleeding. With a loud grunt, he took his free arm, formed a fist, and brought it down. Asteria intercepted his fist with both her palms, struggling to hold it away. With another _fwip_ , she was impaled beneath her collar bones. She hissed in pain, her eyes closing.

Around the hybrids, the forest burned and the ground smoldered as the acid ate through it.

" _Submit~,"_ Asteria rasped aloud.

" _No~,"_ Cain growled. Rough, guttural, and deep.

" _YES!"_

And she went with her ultimate weapon: her mind.

Cain had no experience with telepathy, none at all. Asteria attached, and it was vicious. She had no mercy and no abandon. Everything and the kitchen sink was thrown. She peeled into his mind and wreaked damage of all kinds. In her fervor, she almost destroyed him. She almost eradicated every sentient thought from his head. She almost rendered him as something even worse than a vegetable.

But she realized that she had won, well and truly. He had no defense against her telepathic assault, his fatigue overcoming his mental defense capability. He was at her mercy. His life was in her hands. The role he had to play in her life was hers to decide. His role in the Hive was hers to choose. A Drone, a Warrior, an outcast, a Praetorian, a King, a servant...even something more.

In this moment of peace, Asteria became aware of her own body, the heat between her legs, the desire, and the fact that this was going to happen many times in the future, and there wasn't a god alive that she wanted for any purpose. There was only one person that could keep up with her, one person that could satisfy her.

Besides, she had three rowdy little girls to raise. She might need some help.

She imparted all this to Cain, what she wanted to do with him, what she expected of him. It was more than just a telepathic message, it was also a chemical one. The pheromones interacted with his biology, writing in a new code, a new set of chemicals to be sent and new messages to be read. Cain growled, his mandibles twitching as the titular click came from him.

It was decided.

They disengaged, untangling themselves, removing their limbs from each other's bodies. Asteria's tail uncoiled from Cain's broken arm, and slid out of his chest, while Cain pulled his wrist blades free from Asteria's torso. Slowly, their wounds healed, but it was slow. They were both tired.

Getting to their feet, they eyed one another. They were painted in fluctuating red light due to the dancing flames of the forest, and smoke curled above them. The only reason emergency teams hadn't arrived yet was because every response division close enough to get here in a timely manner was dead.

While not necessarily peaceful, it was square one again, only, with a different avenue. Cain could _smell_ Asteria's puberty, and Asteria could _smell_ him. They were both enticing to each other; she was literally dripping, expelling moles of unseen chemicals, and Cain was standing in the middle of ground zero. The only thing keeping him from taking her where she stood was the fact that he had beaten him, and he wasn't the dominant here.

But all that went out the window when Asteria made a simple gesture.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, I'm not watching this," Perseus said. "I'm going to check out the rest of this rock, maybe find something fun to do."

"There are a couple of deities and entities still roaming about on Earth. I'll handle those." Shin'en vanished in a swirl of vapor.

"Pussies," Lucy accused. "What? Can't handle some sex?"

Words appeared in front her: _Not when the people having sex have my exact face._

 _-Shin'en_

"Fine, that makes sense. More for me then."

Lucy unzipped her pants.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There was nothing fancy about their first union. Their hands roamed in places, they tasted each other's mouths, they kissed, they bit, and they experienced pleasures they didn't know existed. They also learned things.

Yes, the lobster-shell like covering on Cain's front did indeed protect his penis. The shell would slide up, and his length would, for lack of a better word, _flop_ out. It was constantly erect, but only when the shell was up was he actually aroused. Satisfactorily long, and satisfactorily wide. It also came with its own lubrication, which had its own appealing scent and taste. The color was also just as black as both of their skins.

They also discovered that Asteria could control how tight she was. She could expand her vaginal muscles to make herself so loose that Cain couldn't tell if he was inside or not, or she could make herself so tight that Cain nearly crushed her hips in his hands because of the amount of pressure engulfing his reproductive organ. On a strange biology note, Cain's testicles were tucked safely inside his body, arranged in the same way the female reproductive system was.

The final thing they discovered, worthy of note, was that they both had the strangest pleasure spots: their dorsal tubes. They were sensitive, and came with pleasure receptors that neither of them knew about. Anyway, sucking and licking each other's tubes was something that brought them both to climax multiple times.

Of course, they went with a classic vanilla technique. Cain sat against a tree, and Asteria lowered herself on top of him, and then a rhythm was set between her rising and lowering, and Cain bucking. Eventually, past her cervix and deep in her uterus, Cain let out a mighty roar, and their child was conceived in time with a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.

The burning forest had created the right temperatures for a storm, and the powers of the Stormbringer's children.

When they no longer had the energy to keep going, Asteria curled into her mate's arms as the rain fell.

And so it was decided. Cain was not her brother, nor her son, nor her enemy, nor a threat. He was her lover, her husband, and the father of her children, both biological and adopted. Hmm, explaining this whole thing to Annabeth, Ariel, and Amelia would be an experience but one that have to be put off for a later time. For now, the young Empress was content to enjoy the arms of her lover.

But the carnage was far from over.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pregnant though she might have been, the cells were only just fertilized and yet to develop into something even resembling anything more than a ball of genetic material. And her body was not fully human, as had been stated heavily before, and her period was just as nonhuman. The simplest way to put this, was that even though she was pregnant, and the eggs that had been wrapped up and ready to enter her chest cavity were now all fertilized, but only making a single child, she still had eggs to go through, people to harvest, and a city to reach.

Only now she had a companion that would loyally serve her, and terrible cravings.

She needed to eat, and with Cain's sharper hunter instincts, eat she did.

But she didn't get to a city or a town before encountering something in a cave in the side of a mountain.

"Mom?" Annabeth said hesitantly. The pure black eyes and the expanded rib cage and the bared teeth were all things that would give anyone pause. Amelia was there, only she was hiding behind Ariel, who was standing next to Annabeth.

Asteria stared at them unblinkingly. This felt anticlimactic to her, what was about to happen felt anticlimactic, but she knew what was going to be done, and there was no point in prolonging it. Inside her, the genetic vehicle that transported her eggs began working her eggs back into the central cluster, and working its own way up her throat.

The girls all trembled and screamed when a mass of thick, black liquid erupted from their mother's mouth and engulfed them all, expanding and stretching to cover every inch of their bodies. And then, like so many years ago, tendrils of the black material shot out and latched onto the walls and ceiling, and began to reel the cocoons up to suspend them in the air.

Cain stepped next to Asteria. _'Our daughters?'_

' _Yes. Stay here and guard them. Protect them at all costs. When they are reborn, you'll officially be a daddy.'_

Cain's entire body went white as snow, their equivalent of color draining from their faces, and it made Asteria snicker.

' _Don't be nervous. They'll love you.'_

His response was a series of clicks.

Cain would wait for six days before the cocoons greyed and dried out one by one. Annabeth was reborn first, and she was just like her mother. Her hair was straight and made of tendrils, her grey eyes remained, the pupils slit, her sclera black, and her skin was just as dark. She had dorsal tubes, the bladed tail, the claws, the black gums and translucent teeth. The whole package.

She and Cain would lock eyes before Amelia and Ariel made it out, and she would sniff the air, smell her mother, smell her mother on Cain, and smell his own scent, and would smell just what it meant. She would walk to him, both standing, her being a whole two feet shorter, and she would press her head into his stomach, her new tail wrapping around them.

' _Dad.'_

Amelia and Ariel, looking like their now-biological sister, their DNA being warped and twisted exactly like their mother, would follow in Annabeth's footsteps, only they called Cain "daddy" instead of "dad." And that was how the Predator hybrid became a father.

Meanwhile, Asteria continued her rampage, tearing a silent, bloody swath across the continent, until the seventh day after her period started, and the hormones stopped doing their thing. She made it all the way to the outskirts of New Jersey before it ended. After seven days, she had an underground force of over 200,000 assorted Xenomorphs, and she made that many not just with animals, but small children as well.

Annihilation and propagation. If it couldn't be used as breeding material, it was slaughtered. Infants, toddlers, small children...when Asteria couldn't find animals, she resorted to those because there wasn't enough meat to satisfactorily grow a Xenomorph.

Life was cruel.

Now no longer on a killing spree, yet not regretting it all, yet also feeling slightly empty because of what she did, what she intended to do, and what she going to continue to do, and because she couldn't do that command, Asteria spread her wings and flew to Olympus.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

' _Are you fucking serious?'_

She was seething in the throne room, not at all happy with the fact that the loved ones and friends she had arranged to be brought here so that their lives might be spared for a couple of years, were actually all dead. By this guy's hand.

Asteria rounded on Shin'en. _'I wanted them out of my way so I wouldn't kill them, only,_ you _seemingly kill them for me. My dad, my sisters, and my friends.'_

"Would you rather have killed them yourself and live the rest of your life with the guilt of killing your own family?"

' _I don't feel guilt, for anything.'_

"Would you rather have killed them yourself and live the rest of your life with the devastating memories of you being the one to have killed them? At least I made it painless, you would have harvested them and watched as a litter of monsters ripped out of their chest in an eruption of blood and guts. Small favors, Asteria, small favors."

She bared her teeth, but didn't press any further. She looked at the floor of corpses. _'I want them buried. Properly.'_

"Done."

Asteria said nothing for a long time, before her eyes fluttered shut and fluttered open. She sighed. _'I feel strange. Everyone I've known and loved is dead, and I only feel the smallest bits of emptiness. Instead, feel...empty completeness? Complete emptiness? I'm not sure how to describe it.'_

"I'd imagine what you're feeling is the same thing a person feels after they finish a television show, or a book. A feeling of completion, yet they feel empty because they don't know where to go from there."

' _Hm. That makes sense. So, it's going to be another month before my next period, my friends and family are all dead, and my daughters are still mutating. My Hive is staying dormant and underground in the cities and towns from here to Colorado...what do I do now?'_

Shin'en was silent, before he shrugged. "Well, in the short term…" He looked at a corner of the throne room, and he hydrokinetically brought the Ophiotaurus' little water habitat over. "You're going to need what this thing has to offer."

"Moo?"

' _Why?'_

"Because there's more out there. Not all the gods are dead, nor are all the monsters, and there are still many entities stronger than you. You'll need this edge if you want to survive everything that's coming, if you want your Hive, and your mate, and your children to survive."

' _If I asked you for specifics, would I get them?'_

"No."

Asteria looked at the Ophiotaurus, looked at Shin'en's serious face, then back at the Ophiotaurus. _'Get me some fire.'_

"MOO!" Bessie protested.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Feel any different?"

' _No, but I know it's there. The power to destroy Olympus, the power to destroy the stronghold of hundreds of gods. Now what?'_

The doors were thrown open, and in strolled the Leviathan. "So~," he drew out, "you're Asteria. The Us with the pussy."

Asteria's slid over to Shin'en. _'Another alternate version of us?'_

"Mm-hm."

"The way I understand it," Perseus' mismatched eyes gleamed, "my wife in this dimension is your little girl. Makes me feel weird, but I guess that's the Multiverse for you. Anyway, how hard can you punch?"

Asteria slugged him across the face. His head snapped to the side, but she grunted when she felt her knuckles crack.

"Hm, not bad, felt a lot worse, felt a lot better, but try putting some of that juice into it this time."

And so she did. She drew on the power, felt it course through her, and hit him with the opposite fist. This time, he went flying through the wall and beyond. Asteria eyed her fist. Shin'en eyed the hole in the wall and the trench in the ground.

Then Lucy simply popped in. "I see you sacrificed the cow. Neat, so did I, about 3600 hundred years ago."

' _Lucy. You tried to rape me.'_

"Oh, you remember that now?"

' _Yes.'_

"Are you going to do something about it?"

"Perhaps not her," Shin'en said. "Think you can take me?"

"No," Lucy said simply. "I actually have to try to destroy a planet. You can do it almost on command."

"Then get out of here," the Abyss said coldly. "You have no more purpose in this dimension, not that you had any in the first place. Leave, or I'll erase you from here."

The witch chuckled, before she faded from sight. Her chuckle echoed about the throne room.

Shin'en looked at Asteria. "She won't bother you anymore. That I promise."

' _I'll take your word for it. That still doesn't answer what's to happen now.'_

Silence fell between them, before Shin'en broke it. "What do you want to do?"

Asteria looked at the ground, pondering. Then, _'How much traveling about the Multiverse can you do?'_

"In the current circumstance? Virtually unlimited."

' _Then here's what I want to do…'_

The Leviathan came back through the hole. "I actually felt that one. So, what's the situation?"

"Dimensional hijinks. Interested?"

"Not really. Everything pertaining to this dimension is boring."

"Suit yourself."

The Leviathan vanished in a flash of light.

Shin'en locked eyes with Asteria. "Ready?"

' _As ready as you are.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _October 10, 2004_

 _Death Valley, eight miles due North of the Badwater Basin_

" **DIE!"** Ari roared, and he pulled the trigger of his gun.

Thunder cracked, and white-hot lead streaked through the air, right for his own father's forehead. Jeb froze, had been frozen for a while, but he was supremely shocked when he was knocked to the side by his surrogate daughter, Max. There was screaming, but no blood. No death.

The Flock's eyes traveled to the front, and their jaws dropped.

The bullet clattered to the ground when Asteria dropped it.

"S...S...Sub—Subject 3?" Angel stuttered.

' _Subject 3,'_ a nostalgic, beautiful, feminine voice reverberated in the minds of the Erasers and Flock. _'Why, I haven't been called that in years. I had forgotten what it sounded like, even.'_ Asteria turned around and looked at the four-year-old telepath. _'Angel, if we had the time, I'd put you over my knee and spank you for trying to be a martyr. Alas, there are more important things to worry about now, escape being the top priority.'_

"This is...impossible…!" Ari cried. "You're...bigger...older…! You're supposed to be in Antarctica!"

The Eraser had his head lopped off, as did the other Erasers, in a black twitch of the air. Blood erupted into the air and the bodies collapsed, repainting the floor in crimson.

Asteria turned around to face the first people she had ever called family, a very happy smile on her face. If you knew her well enough, you would see Asteria was trying very hard not to cry.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Over the roaring wind due to the speeding jeep that was being driven by Jeb, Nudge was screaming, "How are you here!? Why are you so much bigger!? Why do you look like you're older than all of us!? Why aren't you Subject 3 anymore!? How are you not in Antarctica!? Why are—"

Motormouth Nudge continued to rattle off questions, and all Asteria did was smile through all of them. Fang, ever the mistrustful and cautious one, was eyeing her suspiciously, and Max kept glancing at her from the rear-view mirror. Their mistrust was understandable: years of living in this place, constantly being tricked and mislead, had created overwhelming paranoia in all of them. They suspected this to be a trick, they suspected her of being a clone, or some other experiment. They didn't trust her.

But at the same time, they were relieved to see her.

Finally, after another three minutes of Nudge asking questions, Asteria said telepathically, _'It's complicated. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Just know that the nightmare's over, and your lives are your own.'_

Nobody looked particularly satisfied by that cryptic answer, but when Angel crawled into Asteria's lap and got comfortable before dozing off, opinions changed. The littlest Flock member had excellent judgement skills, being a telepath, and so if she was comfortable enough getting into this older Subject 3's lap, then there shouldn't have been anymore cause for concern.

But paranoia was still paranoia.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the end of the tunnel was the airfield, and a whirring helicopter, and some more people. Mostly corpses, but there were four live ones. Someone in a black cloak and a wide-brimmed straw hat, holding a black pole, Marian Janssen herself, hogtied, gagged, and unconscious, H.G. Groves in the same state, and finally, a very familiar face.

"Subject 3!" was the unanimous cry of the Flock and Jeb.

A smile broke across the eleven-year old's face as she ran to them, engaging all in a group hug. The cloaked individual strolled past them and stood next to Asteria.

' _Was there any trouble?'_

"No."

' _Was she difficult?'_

Asteria received a full sideways glance. She shrugged in response.

Meanwhile, Subject 3 was being bombarded by questions, but she mentally cut them off. _'Please, stop calling me Subject 3. Call me Estelle.'_ She received blank looks. _'It was my grandmother's name. I thought it sounded nice.'_

A pause. Then…

"So, what was Antarctica like, Estelle?" Max asked.

' _Brisk. And lots of penguins.'_

"You can all catch up later," the cloaked one broke in. "That thing's burning gas, and the bomb's still counting down. Unless you all want to be vaporized, Jeb, get in the chair and get to the house in Colorado."

"There's a bomb?" Iggy and Gazzy said in tandem, their pyromania showing itself.

"Get. Moving."

"Come on, guys," said Max. "Everyone in."

As they began to board the helicopter, Estelle stayed out, looking at her older self.

' _Treasure the time you have with them.'_ Asteria's eyes were almost misty. _'It will come to an end one day, and a new chapter will begin.'_

Estelle nodded. _'The gods...I'll be ready. I'll fight them. I'll fight to protect_ _them_ _.'_ She was referring to the Flock.

Asteria hugged the child, and she was hugged back. _'If I could, I would spend the rest of my days teaching you. Tell them I love them.'_

' _I will.'_

The two hybrids separated, one scampering for the helicopter, one staying put. The doors were shut, and the unconscious bodies were left on the ground. The helicopter lifted, and flew away into an uncertain future.

Inside the cabin…

"They're not coming with us?" Fang asked.

Estelle shook her head. _'They can't. Their path is different than ours. Max, she wants you to know that it was good to see you one more time. Fang, she doesn't forgive you for taking a free whiff of her crotch.'_

The gothic avian flushed at the memory.

' _Iggy, she says to keep listening. Nudge, don't ever stop asking questions. Gazzy, warn everyone next time. And Angel...yeah, just don't play with everyone's head.'_

The Flock sat there, digesting what they were told.

"...who was she?" Max asked quietly. "Who were they?"

' _Our saviors.'_

Back on the ground…

' _I'm jealous.'_

"I know."

' _She'll get to the live the life I always wanted, with the people I loved first.'_

"Indeed."

' _Yet I wonder about the future. The Greeks will come because the Fates will make it happen, and what then? Will the Flock be dragged into the chaos? What will be the same? What will be different? Ah, things I'll never know.'_

"On the contrary, you're more or less a goddess now, but beyond that, you are like me, a Planeswalker. Who says you can't come back, or at least watch through a dream?"

Asteria smiled as the bomb went off and erased the School. The blast wave hit them and they vanished in a flash of light. Marian and Groves were turned into smears, and then vaporized.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

' _Are you sure you want to do this?'_

"You're asking me that?"

' _I know how much this...means to you.'_

Shin'en exhaled heavily. "I failed them once, and now I have the opportunity to fix that. The Multiverse has done its thing and recreated what was destroyed."

The Abyss stared at the door before him, wistful, nostalgic, and determined. He opened the door and entered the light. Asteria followed and shut the door behind her. Upon the door was the plaque with the dimension's name:

 _Xenophobic_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Annabeth and Asteria both shot wide awake in the latter's massive bed when they heard the sounds of battle going on all around them. The last thing they could remember was a bottle of vodka, and both their heads were smarting terribly. And Asteria's crotch area felt weird, like it was wrapped in something soft and snug.

She threw off the covers and saw that she and Annabeth were both naked, their breasts hanging free, but their modesty was protected by a pair of pull-ups.

"The hell did we do last night?" Asteria said, then she squeaked when her door was barreled down by a body, one that went flying out her window. Shin'en entered in all his cloaked glory, blood splattered across his form. If he cared about their naked states, he didn't show it. Granted, he didn't show a lot of things.

"Both of you get dressed. It's time to leave...don't look at each other. Put some clothes on and let's go. Showing your diapers is annoying."

That was enough to galvanize Annabeth. "They're not diapers!"

"Mm-hm, sure."

There was more gunfire, but it was cut off in tandem with a scream. Thumping feet grew louder, and Shin'en exuded a flash of light, and the thumping became rolling that stopped.

"I'll explain as you two get dressed."

They sprang from the bed, and, in light of the hecticness of the situation, didn't bother to remove their current underwear and instead endeavored to fervently throw on the nearest articles of clothing, all while Shin'en gave exposition among the sounds of violence.

"In light of almost graduating, you two decided to get wasted, and wasted you got. You both put on diapers—" "Not diapers!" "—and tried to seduce me, but I knocked both of you out. While I was asleep, I discovered why I'm here with you two."

They both paused.

"And that would be?" Asteria prompted.

Shin'en was dead serious. "Help you start your new lives immediately."

Annabeth gasped. "You mean…? It's happening…? Right now…?"

"Right now."

The lovers shared a look, before Annabeth tackled Asteria in a hug, borderline sobbing. Asteria herself was shocked to silence, but her eyes were misting over. Finally, after so long, after so much planning, after so many trials, tribulations, road bumps, and hardships...it was happening.

An explosion rattled the mansion, and the chandelier trembled, before coming undone and falling. There wasn't time to scream, but Shin'en was fast.

"Here's a tip: celebrate later, get dressed now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The mansion was in ruins. Bullet holes in the walls, scorch marks, entire walls missing, corpses everywhere, and the stink of death in the air.

"What the hell?" Asteria muttered, pinching her nose. "Did you bring in a militia?"

"No, I brought in you."

"What?"

Shin'en allowed a faint ghost of a smirk on his face. "Just keep following, and watch your step."

"This is the _entire security force_ ," Annabeth gasped.

"Indeed. Didn't even break a sweat."

They reached the central staircase, where there were more dead bodies, but there was something else. A black, humanoid figure that looked feminine, and had a tail. Sally was off to the side, lying in a pool of blood, and Asteria wasn't sure how to process that, but she was more preoccupied with staring slack-jawed and wide-eyed at the person running the Director through with their tail.

With a grotesque pop, the evident girl split Marian in half at the waist, splattering the floor with the woman's insides. Annabeth squeaked, and Asteria almost cheered, and would have if not for the fact that the girl's face was revealed.

Once again, Asteria felt like she was looking in a mirror, though this one was more accurate than Shin'en.

' _Hello there.'_

Asteria blinked. "Hello…" she continued to stare. "Who are you?"

' _The same as him, only where he's an interdimensional ninja, I'm an interdimensional science experiment.'_

"...huh?"

' _How about I show you.'_

And then Annabeth and her boyfriend were sucked into a vortex of sound and images that they could perfectly decipher and understand, to a certain point. No need to involve gods and genocide in this. When the ride was over, the lovers nearly collapsed, but Asteria, the one with the tail, was there to steady them.

"Woah," muttered the human Fallen Star. "I guess I should count myself lucky, then."

' _Something like that.'_

"And I'm your daughter in another life?" Annabeth said dazedly, and she nudged her boyfriend. "I am _not_ calling you mommy. Or daddy."

"And I'm not wiping your stinky ass...or potty training you."

' _Yes, but do keep in mind that's the reality of having children.'_

"Yep, got it. I can't have kids anyway, so...yeah."

' _I can fix that, you know.'_

Asteria and Annabeth pulled away from Asteria.

"How?" Asteria asked.

' _I can fix the hormone imbalance in your body, I can redistribute the fat and the muscle, I can fix your larynx, and I can make your sperm fertile again. Just say the word, and I can strip the trans from you and make you a full man again.'_

"A full man…" he whispered, the implications and the meaning weighing on him. No more back pain from the weights on his chest, nor more eye-catching bubble butt, no more wide hips or slender waist, no more pretty face or lustrous hair, and that was to say nothing about his shriveled penis, altered from so many years of hormones.

And the possibility of children. Children with Annabeth in a new life of their own.

But this wasn't a decision that would only affect him. Asteria looked at his lover. "What...what do you want?"

All eyes were on Annabeth. She pondered for only a second before responding.

"I want a quiet little life, a simple one somewhere in the country, away from politics and social justice and arguments and debates. I want to live in a small house, comfortable for everyone, get a dog...and I want to do it with the man I love. The man who's always been a man to me, regardless of how he looks."

Asteria looked at his female counterpart. "I'm fine, though I wouldn't mind having my ammo back."

' _Granted,'_ was the response, complete with quirked lips.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You're not coming with us, are you?" Annabeth said.

"No, I am not," Shin'en answered.

Asteria rounded on him. "Why not!? You've been with us since the end of August, and as much as an ass as you've been, you're our friend. You _can't_ just ditch us like that, not after all we've been through together!"

"Friends come and go. You make some, lose some, kind of like money."

"No!" Asteria stormed up to him and grabbed his cloak in his hands. "You are _not_ comparing yourself to money, and you are not just leaving us!" She pressed her forehead to his. "I don't want to lose my brother," she said softly.

Shin'en gently pried her hands away from him, and pinned them to her sides in a hug, keeping his forehead pressed to hers. "This is life. Things change, faces come and faces go, nothing lasts forever."

"I don't like it."

"It's life. It's not supposed to be liked, it's supposed to be beaten and tamed. Besides, what's the expression? 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.'"

"That's cheesy and stupid. I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too."

Asteria pulled away, quickly turning around so that her tears wouldn't be seen, and Annabeth hugged Shin'en.

"I'll never forget you," she whispered.

"Neither will I."

She kissed him on his cheek, and joined Asteria at the car. It was an old one, nondistinct from anything else on the road. If they drove out of here in the Lamborghini, or Ferrari, or Bugatti, it would turn heads and raise eyebrows, especially because the owners of such vehicles were well known, and seeing that kind of car coming from where there was a massive cloud of smoke would be cause to call the police and the presumed escapees

The two lovers lingered, and Shin'en looked at them. "Get out of here before it becomes awkward."

Asteria's lip visibly trembled, before she nearly threw the door open and piled into the driver's seat. Annabeth caught Shin'en's eye, conveying more emotion, conveying more of a message in that brief look than words could ever do. She got in, and didn't get to shut the door before Asteria gunned it onto the driveway and off the property, tearing down the road and into a new life, a new future.

A single drop fell from Shin'en's eye. Asteria gripped his shoulder.

' _Are you okay?'_

"No," Shin'en exhaled. "No I am not. Like you, I want to live their life, be with them, and escape the nightmare, but I can't for the same reason you couldn't stay with Estelle. My path is different."

' _It's more than that. What's wrong?'_

Shin'en whipped around to face her fully. "What's wrong? What's wrong is that I watched them both _die_ , and I lost control! I killed over centillion people, people who had wronged me in no way, people whose death served me no purpose, people who had no viable reason to be _killed_ , and yet here those two are, alive and well and happy. So what was it all for? What is the point of doing anything, when there's a dimension in which it doesn't matter what you did, because something else happened!?"

' _Why do you care about those people in the first place? Aren't we incapable of regret and remorse?'_

" _You_ are, biologically. I still have the capacity to feel those emotions, and I feel them in this instance, because shinobi are the ones who can kill X-amount of people and not care, and I've tried so damn hard to be as anti-shinobi as possible, so not caring about the deaths of one centillion people is something I take a bit of issue with."

' _Fair enough, there's a bit of humanity left in you after all.'_

"Praise the Lord for small favors."

' _Indeed. You asked what the point was in existing when there's a dimension that undoes all your work and efforts and accomplishments? This is the point: figure it the fuck out for your fucking self. I don't owe you an explanation, and neither does the universe nor the beings that run it. Suck it up and move on, because shit happens.'_

Shin'en was silent, before he grunted. "Whatever. Are you satisfied?"

' _The Flock lives peacefully with my younger self, and myself here with Annabeth now have the opportunity for their dream to become reality. I'm satisfied.'_

"Then our business is concluded. Farewell, Asteria Jackson. I give you the world."

They vanished in a flash, and then the Director's mansion erupted in a megaton explosion, destroying all evidence of disappearance and murder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And this is how it ended:

Imbued with the power the destroy Olympus, basically becoming a goddess herself, Asteria ravaged the world. She waged a global war, and won. She entered a state of perpetual menstruation, and washed clean the North American continent in less than a month. The United States, Canada, and Mexico were wiped clean of humanity. Then she moved to South America, and overran it within eighteen days.

Dozens of Hives were established on a continental level, dozens of Queens, a handful of Empresses to govern the Queens, and even fewer Queen Mothers that served as Regents over massive swaths of land. Militaries and militias fought back, of course, but their weapons were ineffective. Bullets and missiles and tanks, when their munitions hit anyway, didn't do anything to the Hive besides piss them off. When the planes came in with the bigger missiles, then they did something, but Asteria made an effort to not let that happen. Ever. A mental attack, and any pilots were nosediving for the ground.

Of course, word did get out. An errant social media post right before death, a couple of urgent calls from authorities, and massive noncommunication with all of the western world is enough to tip off the important people. And so nuclear missiles were launched, and were subsequently detonated in the atmosphere before they could be properly armed.

So the world power attempted quarantine measures, blockading the whole western continent in hopes of starving the invasive threat, not that anyone knew what it was. Agencies and organizations attempted covert search and seizure missions for specimen capture, but all ended in terrible failure. For ten years, the threat remained inactive, and the governments did something of a good job of making people forget, but there was no inactivity.

There was battle, and there was training, and there was child-rearing.

Battles came in the form of the gods that were left over. Asteria and Cain, and their Queens and Praetorians, hunted them down, beat them, and harvested them. New Rome was overrun, the entire populace being bred, the Xenomorphs taking great care to neutralize and not kill. The giant Alcyoneus was harvested, the Inuit gods were harvested, the monsters that roamed were harvested, the unclaimed demigods around the Americas were harvested. _Everything_ was harvested. When the humans ran out of stock, the animals were next. The end result was a mixmash of hundreds of different Xenomorph types.

There was training because all these Xenomorphs, Xenomorphs born from Asteria and demigods and gods, had _powers_. They were all legacies, legacies of Poseidon and other gods, and they had abilities to be honed and harnessed, explored and fleshed out. And beyond just demigod powers, there were quite a few Xenomorphs with something else, and that was because these Xenomorphs were born not from demigods, but from the Blood of the Pharaohs. They had magical powers, spells they could use and practice, and the ones born from gods needed time to learn just what they could do, and while they weren't divine enough to classify as actual gods, they were very powerful. When the godborns matured, they overthrew the current hierarchy in that many of the Queen Mothers, Empresses, and Queens found themselves without life.

But no one attempted to overthrow Asteria. Her Hive Mind was too strong, her power too great, and besides that, she was _more_. She was bigger than all of them combined and could flatten them all.

And finally, there was child-rearing. Not just Annabeth, Amelia, and Ariel, but the fourth child, Asteria and Cain's child. The child took only five weeks to grow and mature until he was ready to emerge, and emerge he did. Not from a C-section, nor a natural birth, but from the inside. The child ripped himself free of his mother's womb, tearing through her body. It hurt, and she screamed and she bled, but after the child flopped to the floor, she immediately began to heal, sealing the massive wound in less than ten seconds.

The child, while an infant, was not like any other baby on this earth. It had no fat, was not pudgy and squishy, and did not sleep all the time. The child was already lithe and athletic and proportionally sized, and was the perfect mix of his mother and father. His left upper dorsal tube was curved forward like his father's, his others were straight, his tail was bladed like his mother's, and his right eye was pupiless and glowing, like his father's, while his left eye was venomous green and slitted like his mother's. His hair was also a perfect mix between his parents, with his bangs being the spikes of his father, all aimed upward at an angle, with the rest of his hair being the smooth tendrils of his mother.

It looked like a natural tiara, almost, which was more appropriate than you might originally think.

The child was just as much a biological marvel as both of his parents and all of his sisters. Internal stores of acid, acidic blood, extendable tail, launchable claws, Hive mind, ultra-durable skin, super strong jaws and muscles and bones, everything. But he was built differently; he was built to carry on the survival of the species through any mean necessary, should it come to that. He could gestate internally like his mother, impregnate via his penis like his father, but he could go further. He could become impregnated as well.

The way his genetic code formed was different. The DNA was almost sentient when it coded itself from the given material from the sperm and the eggs, and it took the female reproductive code in Asteria, and substituted it for the vestigial structure that was the colon. With all internal organs being acid sacs, and all the blood being acidic (meaning no diapers and no potty training, much to Asteria's infinite relief), codes for things like the digestive tract were done away with, and replaced with something more readily used.

All of this to ensure the maximum chances for the survival of the species if it ever came down to something so drastic.

Asteria and Cain named their child Arcadia, for he was their little paradise.

He was rowdy and rambunctious, too. An energetic little thing, scampering around and exploring at his leisure. He always had someone with him, teaching, watching over him. As much as Arcadia loved his parents, he probably loved his sister, Annabeth, just as much, if his constant teething on her tail was anything to go by. Like any small child, Arcadia liked to put things in his mouth, only where that was a serious safety concern for every other parent, it was a serious safety concern for anything near Arcadia. His jaws and his blood would take care of any disease.

Arcadia also liked to hunt with his dad. Always eager to learn things, despite also wanting to try and put the entire world in his mouth. Cain was a good teacher, and a better father. One time, one of the insurgent missions almost captured Arcadia, but Cain was there to physically rip them apart.

So, yes, for ten whole years, Asteria let her Hive grow and train in number and power, and became super mom while she was at it, juggling between her husband, her son, and her daughters. All successfully. Meanwhile, the remaining mortal governments were working on weapons to use, and after these ten years, they launched an amphibious assault, as all air traffic had proven to be ineffective.

Besides her being the daughter of Poseidon, the assault ended in total failure, because Asteria had long since taken to the seas.

Atlantis was first, she assaulted it almost with ten million Warriors and Drones, and completely overran the undersea Olympus. She used it as a new breeding ground, once again sparring no one. Triton fought valiantly, feeling deeply betrayed, but he was overwhelmed by Cain's monstrous strength, strength boosted by Asteria sharing the Power with him. Triton's fate would be as incubator for the sea's future rulers, as would be the same for Amphitrite, Delphin, and the rest of the sea gods. After less than twelve hours, there was an entire new caste of Xenomorphs.

Camp Fish-Blood was crushed under heel like a junebug. And then Asteria went deeper, with only Cain by her side. The girls and her son were left topside to oversee the western continent. The husband and wife went down into the black waters, down to where the ancient monsters dwelt, down where the ancient sea entities occupied, and they whipped ass.

Cain got several trophies, many massive skulls, and Asteria was able to breed a new strain of super-Xenomorph, born from Oceanus himself, and several forgotten sea creatures.

So when the mortals launched their amphibious assault, they couldn't get a tenth across the Atlantic nor the Pacific before every single ship was beset in the dead of night, and all were physically pulled under the waves before being cracked open by the bigger, newest breeds. The crew members that didn't drown were, of course, harvested. After that event, Asteria crossed the sea floors and branched out.

Nothing special happened, only the routine eat, propagate, annihilate, repeat. Though, Cain did have an uncharacteristic field day in Volterra, Italy. It took almost two months to subject the whole of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The only thing worthy of note was the England campaign, and that was solely because of two children who unleashed twin blasts of power eerily familiar to that of the Xenomorphs born from the Blood of the Pharaohs in the Americas. Asteria personally investigated, harvested the tweens, and that was how she gained access to the Duat.

Which was an absolute nightmare for any living thing left on planet Earth.

An entire pocket dimension overflowing with forgotten gods and demons (demons is a loosely used word here), and Asteria had a field day with her harvesting. Sunny Acres Retirement Center was drowning in hundreds of senile Egyptian figures, and while Tawaret put up something resembling a fight, Ariel took the hippo goddess down without a scratch, and Amelia made short work of Anubis, and it was Annabeth that found the sweetest prize of all: Ra himself.

Senile, childlike, and a complete retard, he was still the Sun God, one of the oldest of all the gods, and Asteria did not waste the opportunity. Only one Xenomorph was born from Ra, but one was all that was needed.

Asteria found Apophis of course, and the Chaos Serpent, with the lack of so many Egyptian gods to keep him under wraps, broke free of his prison...and had his scaly ass handed to him on a silver platter by no less than three _billion_ Xenomorphs. Three _billion_ Xenomorphs born from gods and demons, none of them from outside the Duat.

And that was how Asteria's global Hive numbered in the ten billion.

All of that over little more than a decade.

And suddenly it was over.

As seemingly as quick as it began, it ended.

There were some things to do here and there, like some submarines, a few remote pockets of humanity, a couple of herds of various animals, a god that popped up every now and then, but or the most part...it was over.

Asteria found the Princess Andromeda deep in the Arctic Circle, frozen in the ice, the crew all frozen to death. Luke, Clarisse, all the others, dead. Spared from Kronos' wrath, spared from Asteria's Hive. It was fitting, the traitors freezing, like they were in the Ninth Circle for deceivers and betrayers, though that didn't stop Asteria from almost pitying them, especially Clarisse and Luke and the small children.

She had to wonder what they were thinking, coming to this place. Come here to die? Start a settlement? Get lost? Something else? Who knew? Well, Hades did, but Asteria had no interest in going to the Underworld and seeing her uncle. There was no point nor purpose, and so she left Hades to his devices, and the Underworld to him.

As for Kronos and the other Titans, and the Giants, and all other gods and assorted deities that escaped harvest, they faded. With no more mortals, there was no more Internet, and with no more mortals or Internet, there was no one to still believe in any of them, or even suspect of their existence. One might've made the argument that Annabeth, Ariel, Amelia, Asteria, Cain and the whole Hive would know of their existence, but no. Through her Hive mind, Asteria wiped all knowledge of all mythology from the whole of every one of her brood.

She was the sole keeper of this forgotten knowledge, and forever would it stay like that. Of course, where this made the Titans and Giants fade to Oblivion, it also made the Primordials enter an even deeper sleep than what they were already undergoing, making such threats like Gaea and Nyx and Tartarus nonfactors, as their essences became so weak that they only clung to Existence through their domains, and their domains only. Of course, this vast fading effect took hold on Hades and Persephone, and their children and their underlings, and when they faded, so too did the Underworld, and all the souls therein, all of them moving on to the only afterlife still available.

And that is how it ended.

Asteria took over the earth, harvesting all organic life, and she harvested all of the Duat, breeding an army of ten billion Xenomorphs, all of them with extraordinary powers and abilities of their own, and like Shin'en said, it was over. No more conflicts, no more injustice, no more racism or sexism, no more bigotry, no more unfairness...only peace everlasting.

And with peace came a lack of life, and with a lack of life, came a lack of carbon dioxide. The green of the Earth slowly faded, and the plants that did survive did so by adapting to the much lower amounts of carbon dioxide in the air, and the Earth became like a desert planet. Dust storm ravaged the surface, wiping away the remnants of man.

The great Hives, run by the Queens, overseen by the Empresses, commanded by the Queen Mothers, ruled by Asteria, fell dormant. The Hives were set up above ground as massive lattices of black resin that covered all the buildings and skyscrapers in a web of pitch that interconnected about themselves. Asteria's own Hive was set in Manhattan, where she had brought Olympus down from the sky and used the ruins of the mountain and the city as her structure. The oceans were left to themselves, and the bacteria there and the Xenomorphs with the sea creature genes did their part in making blue water again.

If you were to look at the earth from space, you would the browns of the deserts, the blues of the oceans, the white of the mountain tops and polar ice caps, and the black of the Hives.

With all life extinguished, with the Hives spread as far as they could go, the Xenomorphs all fell into hibernation. Asteria's family fell into hibernation. All of it into hibernation.

The caste system had been redone, naturally, due to all the power influxes and differences and changes. There were still the Eggcarriers and the Drones and the Warriors and the Praetorians and the Queens and the Empresses and the Queen Mothers, but there was more now. There was the Royal Family. There was the Prince, Arcadia, and the First, Second, and Third Princesses, Annabeth, Amelia, and Ariel, and there was the Emperor, Cain, and there was one more, a caste above all else, a caste more powerful than all others before it, more powerful than all combined. It was a caste that would never be reached, _never_ , not even by the caste's own daughters.

This final caste would forever be occupied by one individual, and one individual only for all time, the caste that was Asteria Jackson.

The caste of the _Xenomorph Goddess_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **I'm in tears, guys. It's over, after two years, it is done, but more than that,**_ _ **they**_ _ **are all over. The first three, the first trilogy,**_ **Backup Plan** _ **,**_ **Leviathan** _ **, and now**_ **Xenomorphic.** _ **The first stories I've worked on, all completed. Take a moment to let that sink in, all of you who were there from the beginning of**_ **Backup Plan** _ **and have read all of them.**_

 _ **Done sinking in? Good. Now, how was that for an ending? Complete and total annihilation, Xenomorphs born from literal gods, all other deities fading because Asteria destroyed all knowledge of them, Lucy vanishing from this dimension, Asteria and Shin'en going together to alter destiny (which was the surprise I mentioned last chapter, hoped you like it), and the wrapping of loose ends.**_

 _ **I know it felt rushed and there was a lot of exposition, but with the amount of content that was there, writing it all out would've taken forever, and there was probably some stuff I missed, too, some plot holes I forgot to fill, but we'll leave that to you conspiracy theorists to make up and figure out for yourselves.**_

 _ **I hoped you like/caught all the little references here and there, they were fun to write in.**_

 _ **You might ask if there'll be a spin-off revolving around Estelle and the Flock in the other world, or a spin-off involving Annabeth and Asteria in the other world, or even a sequel to this story, and the answers are: maybe, maybe, no. I might do a spin-off**_ **Xenomorphic** _ **, I might continue the Mortal AU that is**_ **Xenophobic** _ **, but don't count on it. And there won't be a sequel, at least not at this point. I can't think of anything to go off of besides alien invasion several hundred years later, but that feels cliché and boring…despite how much of a playground that is.**_

 _ **Now, just because this is the last chapter, don't let that stop you from Faving, Following, and Reviewing one last time!**_

 _ **And I'll see you all in**_ **Son of Jashin** _ **.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _October 10, 2104_

From the depths of space, a Yautja vessel approached Earth...and thousands more followed right behind. They came here not for Youngbloods to undergo their rite of passage of killing a Serpent and claiming its skull, as was their centennial ritual, but for _war_.

Down on Earth, in the Manhattan/Olympus Hive, deep within its confines, a pair of eyes that had been shut for over eight decades opened, the slit pupils dilating to a paper-thin width. The owner of these eyes bared her translucent teeth, and shrieked with terrible volume.

The planet shuddered when ten billion more shrieks were added to the horrific cadence.


	45. Important Author's Note

_**Sorry this isn't a chapter, but things have happened.**_

 _ **First and foremost, I totaled my car just hours ago, as 11:21 A.M., March 14, of 2018. I am okay, no one was hurt, but now I have problems. I have no ride to and from school, or to and from work. Since my car is gone, I now also have no way to get and back and forth to college in a few months.**_

 _ **College requires money, and getting a new vehicle requires money, and minimum wage and scholarships only bring in so much money, so I've set up a way that will hopefully bring in a little more pocket change:**_

 ** _P-A-T-R-E-O-N._**

 ** _URL is that^, lowercase and one word, followed by /DelayedInspiration_**

 _ **There are two pledges, one for five bucks a month for early access to chapters, and the other for eight bucks a month for access to lemons.**_

 _ **Even as I write this I feel ridiculous, but the Lord saw fit to teach me humility by taking my car, and now I'm working my way through this one step at a time. This might be the wrong way, but it's the way I'm going for now. If it pans into the positive, I'll keep going, but if it pans to the negative, I'll stop, regroup, and come up with something else.**_

 _ **Thank you, all of you, for your support over the years, and thank you for everything you're about to do, or not about to do.**_

 _ **It's still a great thing to be able to write for you guys!**_


End file.
